Source: evertonfc.com
It’s been a long time since Arsenal fans have seen their side lift a Premier League title. The invincibles side of 2003/04 is a long distant memory in the minds of everyone involved with the club. Before their FA Cup success last season and the Community Shield win early this season, it had been nine year since the Gunners had lifted any competitive trophy. With stadium debts paid off and the most recent of successes under their belts, it is time for Arsenal fans to believe that their club will become one of the best in England again.
Arsenal have lacked funds with the £390million development of the Emirates Stadium, though the sales of key players over the past few seasons, most notably Robin van Persie and Cesc Fabregas, have disgruntled the supporters, with many calling for the heads of the board and Arsene Wenger on multiple occasions. The Black Scarf movement, the club’s biggest supporters group, organised and carried out many protests, with chants relating to spending money becoming an all too familiar sight at the Emirates.
Despite being one of the most revered English clubs and being in close competition almost every season, Arsenal have never really established themselves as the Premier League’s crowning glory. Over the 22 years that the new format was introduced, the Gunners have only managed to lift the title three times, with Manchester United lifting the trophy ten times more than their league rivals. The tides are slowly changing, with Manchester United seemingly slipping away from the top two or three clubs in the division, having finished a lowly seventh last time out. The era of Sir Alex Ferguson is over for them, meaning a period of transition, one which the Gunners can capitalise on.
Since the beginning of last season, Arsenal appeared to stop becoming a ‘selling club’. The Gunners smashed their transfer record by almost 300% to sign Mesut Özil in 2013, who was key to the ending of the trophy drought. Youngsters are also continuing to play a bigger part in the Arsenal setup, with the likes of Jack Wilshere, Aaron Ramsey and new signing Calum Chambers all under the age of 24. Wenger has stuck to his guns with his youth policy, and as the players develop, it seems to be paying off.
So far this summer, Arsenal have spent close to £70million on new players, Alexis Sánchez taking up the majority of the spending so far, coming in as Arsenal’s second-most expensive player behind Özil. David Ospina, Calum Chambers and Mathieu Debuchy have also come into the club for a total of around £30million. With the Arsenal squad seemingly having more depth than ever, do Arsenal have what it takes to finally be crowned Premier League champions again?
Many would suggest that there is still one lacking quantity in the Arsenal squad, with the club not signing a recognised striker since the departure of Thierry Henry in 2007. Since then, Robin van Persie took over as the main striker along with Emmanuel Adebayor, though both have since left the club. Olivier Giroud has been the only striker with some experience to play up front for the Gunners in the last few years, having won a Ligue 1 title with Montpellier months before joining. The likes of Mario Balotelli, Wayne Rooney and Karim Benzema have been linked in the past couple of years, but Wenger has not made his move. Some may argue that Sanchez is the man to play at striker for the Gunners, or possibly Theo Walcott, though the club seem to have made it clear that Giroud will carry on as the main striker, with Yaya Sanogo getting a bigger part to play as well through the season.
The club have lacked a real leader in the side, a tough midfielder, one who is not afraid to get stuck in. The times of Patrick Vieira leading out the sides at Highbury have long passed, along with every Arsenal captain since. The team is calling out not only for a leader, which they appear to have in Per Mertesacker, who took up the vice-captain role recently, but a versatile holding midfielder to provide a barrier for the defence, one with strength and the ability to prevent opposition players from getting around them. For the fans, Javi Martinez of Bayern Munich seemed to be the standout player, the name on everybody’s lips. The player was linked strongly in the early weeks of the current transfer window, but with an injury that’ll keep him out for most of the season, a move soon seems almost impossible.
To sum up, as with most fans, the general consensus is that one world class striker and a holding midfielder with the ability to play further back when needed is all that the team needs to once again win the Premier League. With other title rivals strengthening in key positions, the Gunners need to act fast if they are to stand any chance of winning the title as early as this season.
– Tyron (@TyronAFC)