The Gunners legend Martin Keown is one of our more respected ex-Arsenal pundits, and although he thinks Arsene Wenger has assembled a fantastic squad he believes there are three areas that Le Prof needs to address this summer to give us the strongest possible line-up to challenge Chelsea next season.
First off all Keown, like many others, think that Arsenal still need to get a new top-class keeper, despite David Ospina’s brilliant record since he became our Number One. This may be the one area I disagree with Keown’s assessment and I believe that the only reason we should be looking at other keepers is if Wojciech Szczesny decides to jump ship, and for me that is unlikely.
Not many Gooners would disagree with his second tweak, which is a backup/partner for Francis Coquelin in the holding midfield position. Le Coq has been fantastic, but the season is very long and he may (or will!) get injuries and suspensions. We definitely need top class cover in that position.
Lastly, and I like this one, he suggests that Arsenal should get in another striker. Giroud generally stays fit but if anything happens to him I’m not really sure that Danny Welbeck is yet ready to fulfil the centre-forward role. Keown thinks that we need a “fox-in-the-box” type of striker (Chicharito anyone?) to either play alongside him or to replace the French international against teams that are harder to break down. The Mexican is renowned for for scoring crucial opportunist goals when under pressure, and I’m not sure that Giroud is quite so good when left up front on his lonesome.
What do you think of Keown’s comments.