The transfer window is shut and the Premier League kicks off this evening and the big question is, have Arsenal done enough to finish the season top-four?
I would say yes and while I am an Arsenal fan and one would expect me to say that I do feel there is enough evidence to suggest that Unai Emery has strengthened the team enough to make us a good shout for a top-four spot.
I think most would agree that Man City and Liverpool will occupy the top two spots and that leaves four teams, Arsenal, Chelsea, Man Utd and Tottenham fighting for the remaining two Champions League places.
I hate to say this but with who they have bought and the players they already have Tottenham have to be one of the favourites to finish in one of the two remaining spots.
But not necessarily above Arsenal, who I am convinced will challenge Spurs as they did last season.
But the same cannot be said of either Chelsea or Man Utd.
United have not strengthened enough in my opinion and losing Romeulu Lukaku and Ander Herrera and bringing in just Harry Maguire, Aaron wan Bissaka and David James simply does not look enough.
Same with Chelsea, they have been unable to replace Eden Hazard and have lost David Luiz to us, some will point to Christian Pulisic and their youngsters but again, I simply do not see how they have strengthened enough in comparison to the business that Arsenal have done.
The front line that Emery now possesses is one of the most formidable in the league, the midfield is stronger now with Dani Ceballos and the improvement of Joe Willock and without question, the defence is far stronger now that Kieran Tierney and David Luiz have been added.
So, yes, in my opinion, Arsenal are definitely more than capable of finishing top-four and I am growing in confidence that we will finish top-three.
If we do not, well, that is for another article.
They have to finish in the top 4 or Emery will be out
Top three sure
Wrong,Emery is going to get more time unless we have a terrible season,who is going to take the job once he is gone tell me? some unknown, inexperienced manager ready to work with a small budget and as a objectif top 4 good luck, he is here for a long time, the length of his contract is just a financial thing and with Raoul, Edu it shows it’s a long term thing! but I could be wrong!
Tissiam, I agree with your assessment, even though Arsenal has the option at the end of this coming season not to extend Emery’s contract into the third year. This is based on the fact that Arsenal appears to be looking long term, not for a quick fix in signing Pepe in instalments over 5 years, buying Sabila on the proviso that they had to loan him back to St Ettienne, buying Tierney to strengthen the defense long term, a loan deal for a potential midfield star in Ceballos and buying Martinelli, an untried but potential star forward.
One would think that if the Arsenal management wanted instant success, Emery would have wanted established hardened professionals. The one of these he did get was David Luis, in the most deficient position of CB.
Maybe Emery has a “nod and a wink” that he is being entrusted, with the aid of Lundberg and Mertesacher to work with what he has, develop the youth and bring in players as required in future transfer windows.
Tissiam, No, you are NOT wrong as you think you MIGHT be. You are correct and UE will surely be here next season and IMO for some considerable time to come too. I doubt we will make top four, though I believe we have a DEFINITE though slim chance. Had we replaced both CB clowns with proper replacements , which I always thought highly unlikely, since Kroenke owns us(and for that reason ONLY) then we would have been odds on for top four, possibly top three. All in all and considering the damaging Kroenke handicap that we have to suffer day after day, the transfer funds have been wisely spent and the powers that be, both Kroenkes apart, are now proper professionals who are steadily steering us away from the amateurly run last years of Wenger and the whole decade long farce of GAZIDIDS THE SLIPPERY!
Top 4 is achievable. At least that’s the goal.
Decent signings that are willing to work hard so Emery has the players he wants now.
Depends a lot on the manager and the players staying fit.
If we can get the back line of Bellerin, Luiz, Sokratis/Holding, Tierney stay fit, we have a great chance at 4th.
I reckon we need to strengthen in January now that Iwobi is gone, but I guess Emile Smith-Rowe (LM) will take his spot.
Castagne (RB), Fraser (LW), Alderweireld, Kamara and Savic (CB) are all free agents next summer so unless the sign an extension, we could coup for one of them in January if needed.
Looking at the current roster, I would say Elneny is the most expendable at the moment as we have 1st choice Torreira, Guendouzi and Chambers better at DM than him. So we could definitely sell him this month.
Our midfield is quite packed (Torreira, Guendouzi, Chambers, Elneny, Ceballos, Willock, Xhaka) and we only got 2 pure CAM’s in Özil and Mkhitaryan.
I really, really hope Willock, Nelson and Mavropanos break in this season and cement their places in the senior squad.
Yes I think we have improved the team significantly and are a good shout for a top four finish, certainly better than a few weeks ago, but I would add Everton, Leicester and Wolves into the mix for top four contenders or certainly teams to be wary of.
I couldn’t agree more. Especially Leicester.
Just to correct that IWOBI actually cost 28m+6m add ons according to bbc and liverpool echo and other respected news outlet. So nobody pay 40m for iwobi. Stop racking up numbers just to make look good
From Alex Iwobis uncle
He was not until 24 hours ago. The decision is not Emery’s, I know he is not happy about this move. The money men made this decision and it is a stupid one footballistically.
Everton are direct competitors for top 4. They have bought astutely, it makes them a serious threat. They need a creative wide outlet and need a player like Iwobi to work with Richaldson. They a very talented young striker with pace who needs someone to feed his runs. What do we do? we give them a critical piece they need.
It is a money decision, not a football decision. But for Iwobi, it makes an extremely rich boy. He walks away with a loyalty bonus of £5m cash, plus £1.5m signing on fee, plus a basic salary of £150k weekly. Oh! £3m for his Dad, his Agent. I am in a WhatsApp group with him, he says he will brief us later.
Don’t believe a word you have written-if we want the full details we would ask @kev
I’m feeling BLUE… think I’m off to Everton!
??
Feelsbadforyoumate
Look on the bright side though atleast we now got a potent winger .
You will be missed – more so than the player
Tottenham’s squad is strong. Ndombele, La Celso and Sessengon are all quality additions. I cannot point to a specific weak point in their team. On the other hand Arsenal will still have Xhaka at CM, AMN at RB. Sokratis/Mustafi at CB. Those are our weaknesses and because of this, I will say we will finish 4th behind Tottenham. Chelsea will drop out of the top 4 because they have lost a key player in Hazard. Man utd are a wild card because of their improved defence. Am not too worried about them though.
See how Le Celso adapts to English game from Spain and hard tackles every game. He didn’t make it at PSG so let’s just see
We definitely have an increased chance of top 4 finish with our excellent signings but City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Spurs, United again will be tough to beat this season
In fact, top 4 is achievable last season but defensive errors blew it.
We’ve done a great job but two things need to be fixed:
1. Manager’s tactics:: need to be spot on as in the beginning I wanted Brendan Rodgers to be our coach; so watch out for Leicester this season. This coach needs to move away from back-three completely and also has to play more ball possessors and ball winners in midfield (Torreira, Ceballos, Mkitaryan)
2. Getting an internal or external solution to Iwobi leaving as no senior player (including Aubameyang) can play that left wing position effectively.
Good day gunners and let’s start this week with a bang.
So Auba didn’t play on the left last season and score a shit ton of goals ?
Dan kit he’s just butt hurt about Iwobi.
Auba is a striker and still outperformed Iwobi on the wing.
Some people refuse to face reality. I hope Iwobi has success at Everton without the pressure of CL and trophy expectations.
Good luck to him, Arsenal just can’t wait anymore for him to progress; 3 years and over 100 appearances is enough to know.
Fulham spent more than 150 M to buy a lot of new players last season and they were relegated. Whereas Tottenham didn’t spend a dime last season, yet they managed to become CL runner-up
EPL is not like the Football Manager game, where we can buy many new players without thinking much of the adaptation process. Man United spent a lot of money on British players and would most likely be able to integrate them immediately, whereas the top 4 teams only bought a few players
Everton purchased three EPL players, but they also bought three non-EPL ones. Whereas Arsenal bought Tierney/ Luiz and got another two from outside the UK, so it would be interesting to see how these clubs introduce their foreign players into EPL
It is surprising today you did not mention Ozil anywhere in your comment.
We don’t seem to have a backup for Bellerin and it bothers me.
On the subject answer is I really dont know for the first time in a long time either teams such as wolves, Leicester and Everton have signed some great players and assembled some competitive squads.
I expect those 3 to challenge the top 6 this year.
Our signings particularly Luiz and Pepe, (if he gets up and running quickly) should bring us lots of goals up front and improve our goals against tally. Weve a good chance of top 4 if players stay fit, ozil plays to his capability etc etc
Generally after yesterday I’m buzzing and excited.
If anyone is feeling down or worried about Luiz coming in then have a look on ‘you tube’ at these two videos:
1. Why arsenal signed david luiz.
2. *RANT* CHELSEA FAN TALKING ABOUT THE TRANSFER. well worth a watch as it reassured me and nice to see another fans pain for a change 🙂
There are also blooper and funny David Luiz videos on there but I chose not to watch these as I’m sure we’ll see some those year anyway.
With the good comes the bad!
Right Captaind announcement please.
COYG..!
Regarding top 4 it’s not like a poll..
We MUST make top 4; otherwise chase the manager and his staff.
There are no more excuses you can give for not making top 4 since we’re better off than Man Utd, Chelsea and at same level as spuds.
ManU: No strikers and weak midfield.
Chelsea: No strikers and poor central defence.
@gotanidea.
I thought to myself is this person female? Going by your icon for your profile then I looked again and realised it was Alex Morgan, yea indeed she’s mighty fine 🙂
Most people myself included had thought the new management were useless and that Raul was the new dictator. When nothing was happening i to was very angry that we got rid of Sven for Raul’s apparent book of contacts.
HOW I WAS WRONG! He is an absolute genius and so happy we have him! We are going places with him incharge!
The one thing i want to question is? How much do you think the #WeCareDoYou petition helped this transfer window? I think it kicked the Kronke’s into gear and this happened as a result.
I agree Arsenal can make the top 3/4. My only worry are the first few games. It will be a while before Tierny and Bellerin are at full back. When will Laca be back? When will Pepe be fully embedded? Is Dani Ceballos going to miss some games through injury. How many penalties will Xhaka give away? If we get a good enough start we will be up there. Emery it’s now up to you.
As it stands 2 players need to be left out of the A list for the Europa League. The youngest 2 being Martinelli and Guendozi. But more likely is Mavropanos or hopefully we will sell off some more deadwood. Personally, I think Elneny and Mustafi are surplus and if anyone came in with decent offers for
Monreal or Kolasinac,
Mkhitaryan or Ozil and even Xhaka I would be tempted to pull in some cash for a spend up in January. My biggest concern now is that we could really have done with keeping hold of Nketiah, but perhaps Nelson, Smith-Rowe Martinelli, Balogun and John-Jules will be given more opportunity to support Pepe Aubameyang and Lacazette
@atid
Agree with what you’re saying.
I personally think Nelson and Bakayo Saka are the most Iwobi like players I’ve seen that I guess will be given some opportunities this season.
I think were just about okay with all those young players who can do a job on the flanks and then you consider that Laca, Auba, and Pepe can all play up through the middle if needs be and one of the players is injured or needs resting.
I dont think Emery would have let Nketiah go on loan though if he knew that the money men were going to cash in on Iwobi, I can imagine that’s left a bit of a bad taste in his mouth.
We will get top 4 minimum especially when every injured player is back,the new ones hitting the ground and running,as mentioned in the article Chelsea are no stronger than last year,losing Hazard was a disaster,for a lot of the young ones it will be their first full pl season which poses a lot of problems,defense is going to be a big problem for them at least we addressed it,new manager,at man utd they overpaid for young,unproven players, pogba wants to leave but they want to keep him not good, the manager is not up to it,there is a reason why they missed on all their top targets, didn’t get rid of underperforming players with big egos,at spurs Eriksen is no longer in Pocc plans since he said he wanted a new challenge,they stopped rose going to utd he can’t be too happy I even doubt that pool will better last season but then again I could be wrong!
THat is not how it works.
Just signing new players does not mean that we all of a sudden have to finish in the TOP 4.
We still have other teams / clubs that finished ahead of us last season.
All our players have to do is compete, fight and show that they are a Top 4 side. Performances on the pitch for the duration of a season is what determines if you are Top 4 worthy.
We should do much much better than we did last season. Top 4 is should be more than possible. But as i keep saying, the players have to show that they deserve to be a top 4 side. Earn your respect first.
?
Anyway, I am seated here the whole day thinking about how stupid the board were in sanctioning the sale of ALEX IWOBI.
You know that a deal is bad when
1.After a day, Everton haven’t yet unveiled him – which means Iwobi is immensely disappointed.
2. When Emery comes out to wish him a good farewell (which he hasn’t done with other players). This shows the coach is also disappointed.
TRUST ME:: ARSENAL WILL LIVE TO REGRET THIS DECISION!!!!!!!
I agree. I don’t know what surprised me the most…Luiz joining, or Iwobi leaving?
Seems crazy to sell your best attacking midfielder from last season. I only way I can make sense of it all, is that Iwobi will get a lot less game time because of Pepe. Even though Iwobi just had his best ever season, his status amongst most fans was still “quality squad player”, and 35/40 million for a squad player is a very good offer. I am sure the board would have preferred to get rid of Ozil, and Miki because of their crazy wages, and pathetic performances, but just cannot shift them, so something had give as we had so many attackers…and that was Iwobi.
I am sad he has left, and Iwobi is young enough to improve even further, and I guess the question is: will he improve, and by how much? We have got good money for him in this moment, but Iwobi could be worth 50/60 million in a year’s time.
At least from the information becoming available people shouldn’t blame Emery for selling Iwobi.
Purely a money decision.
Its a true time for Arsenal to finish in top four of premier league this season 2019-2020.
Top four is the least we expect at this point. The board has done enough, Unai Emery should do the rest now or else……
It’s all up to our gaffer and hopefully he learnt his lesson from last year. I was looking forward to last season with Emery coming in along with 5 new players, but his “worry” management style and constant tinkering got us to where we finished at the end of the season. He needs to let go of his fear/worry and play to our strengths. Last season it took him 13 games before he put Auba & Laca together on the pitch and has to get over his Xhaka Mustafi fixation. More importantly not to get into ego clashes with any player.
He needs to start with the attacking forward line and stick to a game plan to remove any confusion in our players’ minds and carry the team with him by playing to every individual’s strengths. He can’t say “I want you all to scurry around and defend” but instead work through a creative midfield. For all of Sarri’s idiosyncrasies, he did not confuse his team, but stuck to their strengths.
This team is a lot stronger than the teams in the past, so I’m hoping we have an attacking game plan in place and use all the weapons at his disposal.
In Arsenal we trust.
Talk to Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp about how difficult the first season in the EPL is?
Iwobi is financially better off with his move to Everton than to have remained at Arsenal next season. It could be as he sees the big financial advantage that comes with move, he exclaims, what am I seen? Whao! Hence he didn’t hesitate to move. So, I don’t think hes sad for being sold to leave his boyhood club Arsenal but happy. However, the concern for Arsenal during the first half of next season’s campaign in the PL is, they don’t have a recognized senior left winger left in the current squad on ground after the just concluded summer transfer window that is left who can play like Iwobi had played for the club last season. But since the club have decided to sell him for whatever reason they have but without signing a replacement to him, but they ought to have signed a better left winger than Iwobi to replacement him. But anyway, let’s see how the first half of next season in the PL will pan out for Arsenal. Maybe Arsenal will address the left winger issue and some other issues in their squad that will crop up during the Jan window next season. At any rate, let us Gooners not start being overconfidence ahead of next season for Arsenal to make the top-four place finish because they’ve signed 5 new payers who will play for the club next season. But pray for Arsenal to have a winning start in their PL opening match away to Newcastle on Sunday. And sustain the win to continue winning.
Iwobi is financially better off with his move to Everton than to have remained at Arsenal next season. It could be as he sees the big financial advantage that comes with the move, he exclaimed, what am I seen? Whao! Hence he didn’t hesitate to move. So, I don’t think he’ll be sad for being sold to leave his boyhood club Arsenal but happy. However, the concern for Arsenal during the first half of next season’s campaign in the PL is, they don’t have a recognized senior left winger left in the current squad on ground at the Ems after the just concluded summer transfer window that is left who can play like Iwobi had played for the club last season. But since the club have decided to sell him for whatever reason they have. But without signing a replacement to him? Which they ought to have done by signing a better left winger than Iwobi was for Arsenal at point of his being sold or before then to replace him. But anyway, let’s see how the first half of next season in the PL will pan out for Arsenal. Maybe Arsenal will address the left winger signing issue and some other issues that could crop up in their squad during the next Jan transfer window next season. At any rate, let us Gooners not start being overconfidence ahead of next season for Arsenal to make the top-four place finish because they’ve signed 5 new payers who will play for the club next season. But pray for Arsenal to have a winning start to the season in their PL opening season match away to Newcastle on Sunday. And sustain the win to continue winning.
Please any idea if the captain armband has been given to Luiz
It could be 4 weeks before Bellerin,Holding and Tierney are match fit and until then we could well continue to struggle defensively and drop points I’m afraid.I expect us to recover from a sticky start and we may just squeeze into the top four by the end of the season.With regard to a replacement for Iwobi,Martinelli ,who looks very promising, plays wide left or right as can Pepe who has a wand of a left foot and can be used like Sane of Man City.With Saka and Nelson in the background I really do not feel we need to replace Iwobi and I’m sure Emery has similar blackberries why would he let him go?
I dont believe in top 4 being an achievement. We should aim for the league. Winning the league should be the target. And it is possible. It is about determination, being brave and focused. Leicester City won the EPL in 2016. Athletico Madrid won the LA Liga in 2014. Monaco won French Ligue in 2017. Why can’t we win the EPL in 2020? It is possible. We need to bring back that positivity and winning mentality. Take the game to the opposition. Pick your best 11. Have a good midfield. Front 3 of Aubameyang, Pepe and lacazette. Midfield 3 of Ceballos, Ozil and Torrera. Back 4 of Luiz, Holding/sokratis Tierney and Mustafi till when Bellerin is fit. Bellerin at right back makes sense. We need to stop booing Mustafi.
I am totally against booing our own players but I sincerely hope Emery does not pick Mustafi.