The evidence is clear, Arsenal do have a squad good enough for the top-four.
When reading some of the comments on here I have to admit I do shake my head in disbelief. One of the comments I do read on a fairly regular basis is the Arsenal players are not good enough for top-four.
Give me a break, of course, the players are good enough.
Last season Arsenal finished fifth, no ifs or buts that was the final position. Therefore they are not good enough. Problem with that is that is far too black and white and does not take into consideration the circumstances.
Arsenal should have finished top-four, they had it in their hands and blew it. Why that happened is up for debate. Some no doubt will blame the manager, some will blame Xhaka for the penalty against Brighton, some will even blame Aubameyang for the penalty miss against Tottenham. Trust me on this, everyone has been blamed at some point. Again that is the feedback I get from comments on this site.
It is easy to just close your ears and say you we never finished top-four, end of the debate. But to ignore why and then just say the players are not good enough is not what I would regard as a sensible position to take.
I do find it interesting that a poster on here will say the players are not good enough and that very same poster will put up a comment at a later date and say if so and so was manager we would have finished top-four.
In my opinion, this Arsenal squad is strong. Yes, there are some weak areas but no team is perfect in every single area, not even Liverpool. I mean Jordan Henderson and James Milner do an effective job for the Reds but they are hardly world-class.
What actual areas are that weak for Arsenal? Maybe central defence but for me, that is it. In Bellerin and Tierney we have two very good full-backs, better than a lot of teams.
The midfield is all over the place but Torreira is a bloody good player when played in the right position. Guendouzi is being recognised as a massive talent. Willock is coming through fast, Xhaka is a very good player, he has shown that many times in an Arsenal shirt. Ozil is divisive but few doubt his talents. Maitland-Niles could be anything, we just do not know because he has never really been given a chance.
Of course, some of you will argue every point with me but let me give you another sort of comparison.
Let’s take Tottenham, is Dier better than Torreira? Winks better than Guendouzi? Eriksen better than Ozil at this minute in time? Lamela better than Xhaka and so on?
Maybe some of them are but that is very questionable in my opinion. The difference is how they are set up, instructed and managed, and let me tell you this, we have not been humiliated at home this season like Spurs have, who for the record, are below us.
Then there are the forwards. Do I really need to convince anyone that our forward line is formidable?
Is Arsenal in a mess? Yes of course they are, but please do not tell me that they are not top-four quality.
Is it the manager? Confidence? Motivation? I do not know the full answer why Arsenal are where they are today, which is above Man Utd and Tottenham, but I do know that these players are good enough for top-four.