When you have not won a trophy for eight years, it becomes increasingly imperative to get your hands on one as quickly as possible.
Arsenal get their final realistic chance to end that trophy drought in 2013 on Sunday as they set out on the road for Swansea, a path fans hope will eventually lead them to the FA Cup in May.
But the Gunners are juggling a few balls at once.
Qualifying for the Top Four is a must for financial reasons and club morale. With Tottenham, Chelsea and Everton providing a strong challenge, the North Londoners will have to pull out all the stops to achieve Champions League qualification.
And Arsene Wenger’s men still have faint Champions League ambitions with a last-16 tie against Bayern Munich next month.

Three fronts

At this moment in time, Arsenal do not have the resources within their squad to challenge on all three fronts.
So it will be interesting to see what team Wenger puts out at the Liberty Stadium on Sunday with calls for a trophy growing year-on-year.
It is especially significant as Arsenal’s next five fixtures are quite tricky including home games against Man City, West Ham, Liverpool and Stoke, while they travel to Chelsea on January 20th.
The truth is that in the current football world where money trumps trophies, for a club like Arsenal an FA Cup is essentially worthless if Champions League qualification is not achieved.
Ask Birmingham City who beat Arsenal in the 2011 Carling Cup final – the Blues first major trophy in 48 years.
Under the stewardship of Alex McLeish, Birmingham were relegated at the end of that season and continue to languish in the second tier.
Would the fans and the club have swapped a glorious day at Wembley with playing Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea week in week out?
In hindsight, sadly the answer would probably be yes.