Well, a lot has been published here and other places to suggest that we are still not sure of our current state, but let’s take a closer look at it.
In the 2017/18 season, we finished 6th, with 63 points, which was Wenger’s last season with us, his best 11 was
Cech
Bellerin
Mustafi
Koscienly
Nacho
Ramsay
Xhaka
Ozil
Welbeck
Aubameyang
Iwobi
Lacazette usually came on in the second half.
In Emery’s first season, we finished with 70 points, that’s 7 points better than the previous season. and one position higher with a 5th placed finish.
Emery’s starting 11 for the most part of the season was
Leno
Niles
Sokratis
Mustafi
Monreal
Kolasinac
Torreira
Xhaka
Guendouzi
Lacazette
Aubameyang
Well, if we look at that line up, the survivors of Wenger’s team are Niles, Mustafi, Monreal, Kolasina, Xhaka, Auba and Lacca that is 7 out of 11, of course, if we add the likes of Ozil, Holding, Bellerin Rambo and Welbeck it may rise a bit, but the whole truth is that they’re still mostly Arsene’s Team.
Now, this season despite debates about our first 11 we can all agree on the following as our best 11 or at least close to it.
Leno
Bellerin
Holding
Luiz
Tierney
Torreira
Guendouzi
Ozil/Ceballos
Pepe
Lacazette
Aubameyang
Debates, I am sure will take place over Luiz and Sokratis and also Ozil and Ceballos but the rest of the 11 are agreeable.
Now, is this team an improvement on last season? Only results will tell, people have been saying that we have 6 points after the first 3 games and last season we only had 3, but we also had 6 points after our first 4 games and that can still be the case if we lose to spurs this Sunday. At the end of the day what counts is the results, and that’s what we cant substantiate at the moment.
But one thing that is for sure is that the team is changing. out of the current 11 we only have 4 or 5 if you include Ozil, that’s now more of an Emery team if you ask me. So yes the team is changing, but are we improving? It would be good to see your comments below.
At the end of the season, we will have a more concrete answer but for now, we can only speculate.
That’s all I have for today.
Muha Ankoanko