Arsenal ended Sutton United’s sensational FA Cup run with a professional 2-0 victory at Gander Green Lane on Monday night.

Both Lincoln City and Millwall had sprung cup upsets over the weekend, knocking out the Premier League duo of Burnley and Leicester respectively, and Paul Doswell’s Sutton went toe-to-toe with the Gunners for large periods.

However, goals from Lucas Perez and Theo Walcott, the latter’s 100th for the club, sealed their spot in the last eight of the competition, where they will face Danny Cowley’s Lincoln for a spot at Wembley in the semi-finals.

Nonetheless, before that quarter-final clash, Arsene Wenger’s men have the small matter of a Champions League second leg against Bayern Munich to contend with, where they trail 5-1 from the first leg, and indeed the battle to finish in the top four for a 21st successive season.

The Gunners are currently sat in fourth, a point clear of Liverpool in fifth and two ahead of Manchester United in sixth, but with 13 games to go, a lot can happen, and Arsenal will have to improve in certain areas to finish in the top four once again.

Thus, here are THREE things Wenger and his Arsenal team must improve ahead of the run in…

Record versus top six

It has been a factor in Arsenal’s failed title attempts over the past few years, and it once again looks set to cost them dear this term.

The Gunners just do not take enough points off their top six rivals, winning just one of the six games they’ve played against them so far this season.

That came all the way back on September 24 against Chelsea, but other than that they have suffered defeats against Manchester City, Liverpool, and indeed the Blues when they beat them 3-1 at Stamford Bridge earlier on in February.

Their tally of five points from six games is simply not good enough, and with four more games against their top six rivals, with both Manchester clubs to visit the Emirates, and Wenger’s men to travel to Liverpool and Tottenham, they have to do better in those games.

With it being so tight among the top six this season, taking points from these games are vital to Arsenal’s chance of recording a 21st successive top four finish.

Defensive resilience

Arsenal have conceded 28 goals in the Premier League this term, which is by no means awful, but it is worse than three of their top six rivals.

And their complete capitulation away at Bayern Munich last week suggests that they still have huge improvements to make over the coming weeks.

Laurent Koscielny is obviously a very capable defender, and it was his injury in the early stages of the second half which brought on the Bayern onslaught, with the back four of Gabriel, Shkodran Mustafi, Hector Bellerin, and Kieran Gibbs unable to defend adequately against the German giants.

Mustafi has made a solid start to life in England, but you wonder whether he is beginning to get found out, whereas there’s clearly an issue at left-back, given that neither Gibbs nor Nacho Monreal have nailed down the place in the last few weeks.

They quite simply have to defend better in the coming weeks, be it against Liverpool next time out, or against Lincoln City in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup.

Central midfield stability

A lot has been said in recent years about Arsenal’s need for a defensive midfielder with a strong physical presence bu who can also play the Arsenal way.

It looked like they had got it with Francis Coquelin, but he has struggled this term; it looked like they had got it with Granit Xhaka, but his disciplinary concerns raised huge doubts about his reliability.

With Santi Cazorla injured and Mohamed Elneny on African Cup of Nations duty throughout January, the Gunners were depleted in that area, leaving Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to fill in against Chelsea and Hull, the latter game he performed particularly well in.

However, with Elneny back and Xhaka ready following a four-match ban, you sense that Arsenal need continuity in that position – Wenger either needs to back Xhaka, or not, back Oxlade-Chamberlain to do the job, or not.

Egyptian international Elneny looks a solid player in that position, but it still remains to be seen whether he is the answer – it’s an answer Wenger needs to find over the coming months if his men are to finish in the top four, and indeed battle for silverware come May.