There would appear to be just four teams in the race for the 4th and final Champions League place, with Arsenal holding a slender advantage over West Ham, Man United and Spurs at the moment.
But with nearly half the season to go there is nothing set in stone, but the Gunners legend Ray Parlour believe that United are the current favourites since changing their manager, with the other three fighting it out for 5th and 6th.
But he thinks all four could give a boost to their chances by bringing in the right acquisitions in the transfer window. This is what Parlour told TalkSport (transcribed by the Metro): “If he [Rangnick] can get that little bit of a buzz around Manchester United again, they’ve got better players probably than most of the squads,” Parlour told talkSPORT before Manchester United’s loss to Wolves.
“Then you look at Spurs, I think it’s close between Spurs and Arsenal. The north London derby coming up will be massive for both sides.
“And then West Ham, you still can’t write them off. I know they had that little bit of a blip but they’ve bounced back very well against Palace and Watford. But it’s all about the transfer window for me, West Ham need a few more players coming in. Certainly a striker is desperate. They’ve really been dismantled at the back… whether they look at a centre-half.
“A lot of it is going to come down to signings in January. Not just the top four, but at the bottom as well. If I’m going to stick my neck out, I would certainly go with Manchester United still [to finish fourth].”
Parlour continued: “I’m hoping Arsenal can do it, I really like the way they’re playing at the moment.
“[Thomas] Partey had his best game I’ve seen in an Arsenal shirt at the weekend [against Man City] and now he goes away on Africa Cup of Nations duty, so he’s going to be a big miss.
“Striker-wise, not got a lot of backup. [Alexandre] Lacazette if he gets injured, [Pierre-Emerick] Aubameyang is out of the picture at the moment, they’ve got no real player that can go up there.
“[Gabriel] Martinelli can play up front but he’s probably better of the left-hand side at the moment with the way he’s playing.”
So, Ray obviously thinks that a new top striker is Arsenal’s biggest priority, as a lot of us on here have been saying for a while, and maybe an urgent back-up for Partey.
Let’s hope Edu and Arteta can work their magic again like they did in the last window…
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