It probably hasn't escaped Arsene Wenger.

There are 16 games left, 48 points at stake. Nine of them are at home, where Arsenal have lost just once this season, fewer than anyone except Chelsea.

(And that was in the wacky clash with Manchester United, when they should have been several goals up in the first half before being naively pole-axed on the counter-attack.)

And of the seven away games, just two - United at Old Trafford and the North London derby next weekend - are against sides in the top half of the table.

Dare to dream?

We are not talking the top two places here. But Southampton, in third, are three points away. The injury crisis has subsided somewhat. Danny Welbeck could be back today, Mesut Ozil has already returned. And Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Mikel Arteta and Mathieu Debuchy are all scheduled for a comeback this month, with Jack Wilshere due to follow shortly thereafter.

It's Arsenal, so you're thinking: "So what? Even if the injured return, others will get crocked and replace them in the infirmary."

But what if that doesn't happen? What if the pieces fall into place?

Only two squads are head-and-shoulders above the Gunners and, unsurprisingly, they sit first and second in the table. They have a legitimate Player of the Year candidate in Alexis Sanchez and an array of individuals who can turn a game single-handedly: from Aaron Ramsey to Theo Walcott, from Ozil to Santi Cazorla, from Sanchez to Oxlade-Chamberlain. For all the criticism they get about their defending, reinforcements have arrived in the form of Gabriel Paulista. And, besides, while their defending often gets lampooned - they do give up some wacky goals - only Southampton have conceded fewer shots, suggesting they're doing something right.

A third-place finish - after back-to-back fourth-place campaigns - would be a baby step after the heavy summer spending, but at least it would curb the jokes about winning the "fourth place trophy" for a while.

Two months ago they were down in eighth place. Since then, they have gained 22 points in 10 games; more than Chelsea and one less than City. No point in getting carried away just yet, but as of right now,

the future doesn't look so bad. Maybe Wenger will be vindicated. Again.

CALL it the three-headed monster. Last September, Michel Platini, the Uefa president, announced he wasn't going to challenge Sepp Blatter for the Fifa presidency.

"I realised that the people who like me wanted me to stay at Uefa and the people who hated Blatter wanted me to go run for Fifa President," he said.

But that doesn't mean he is sitting this one out. The will to remove the 78-year-old Blatter from his post is still there. He will just do it by proxy. Hence Platini's unofficial backing of three different candidates to take on perma-Sepp.

There's something for everyone. There's Michael van Praag, the veteran, much admired football administrator, head of the Dutch FA.

There's Prince Ali bin Al-Hussein, the 39-year-old Jordanian, currently a Fifa vice-president representing the Asian Football Confederation. And then there is Luis Figo, who graduated from "Just for Men" commercials to building up a decent network of contacts among football apparatchiks.

The idea appears to be to hit Blatter from all angles. Van Praag, on football governance. Prince Ali on reaching out to the non-European sphere. And Figo on star power and name recognition. And then, when Blatter is metaphorically bruised and bloodied, two of the three bow out, throwing their weight behind the other Platini-backed candidate.

That is why, incidentally, the Scottish FA endorsed van Praag, while, south of the border, they opted for Prince Ali. You need five nominations to be in the running - which is why you probably won't be hearing again from "Team Ginola" - and Platini helped rally the European troops to make sure the three had enough.

But will it be enough to unseat the Fifa supremo?

As it stands, probably not. Years of cultivating long neglected parts of the world have given Blatter a stranglehold over Africa and Oceania. South America, of course, was in the bag dating back to the

Havelange days. The fact that Prince Ali needed to come to Europe to get his nominations suggests that most of the Asian contingent will be opting for the status quo. Some of CONCACAF may be in play, though even within Uefa, at least a half dozen federations will pick Blatter over whoever Platini puts forward.

That is how bleak it looks right now for those who feel 17 years of Blatter are enough. And it is unlikely that even a three-headed beast like the one cooked up by Platini will change that.

ONE-TEAM league? Not so fast. The Bundesliga returned on Friday night with a crunch match pitting first versus second - or, more accurately, first versus second-by-default - and Bayern fell to their first league defeat of the season, which was also their first in eight-and-a-half months.

Wolfsburg stomped all over Bayern in an emphatic 4-1 win that was made all the more emotional because it was the first since the death of midfielder Junior Malanda. The lead is now down to eight points which means it is still likely insurmountable - though with Andre Schurrle on his way over from Chelsea, Wolfsburg will have more ammunition for the chase - but it is also a bit of a bloody nose for the Bavarians given some of their recent statements.

Like Pep Guardiola saying they enjoyed the "best and most productive mid-season break ever". Or Thomas Mueller musing that the "toughest" games he has faced in Germany were Bayern's intrasquad scrimmages.

On nights like these, Bayern's imperfections become more evident, as does the impact of their absentees. The insistence on Arjen Robben in the final third made them mono-thematic (Franck Ribery was unavailable). Sebastian Rode, a "value signing" from Eintracht Frankfurt, looked in over his head, leaving some to pine for the injured Thiago Alcantara and Javi Martinez. At the back, Mehid Benatia's absence only highlighted Dante's limitations. And Manuel Neuer's performance made you realise just how exaggerted this whole "sweeper-keeper" business was.

Bayern will be just fine. Guardiola tends to learn from his mistakes and find a way to bounce back. But the way they were overwhelmed by Wolfsburg offers more than a ray of hope to the rest of the Bundesliga.