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After a difficult 2020-21 season, Arsenal decided to exercise patience and stick with manager Mikel Arteta. The Gunners are now reaping the rewards and look primed for a return to the UEFA Champions League next season.
After finishing eighth in the Premier League last season and missing out on European football for the first time since 1994-95, the Gunners have made stunning progress. Arteta's men have won each of their last five league games and find themselves in fourth place with 51 points from 26 games.
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The London giants are a point ahead of fifth-placed Manchester United and also have three crucial games in hand. As things stand, only a spectacular meltdown will stop Arsenal from finishing in the top four, considering their terrific form.
Arsenal have reason to be optimistic ahead of the 2022-23 season
The signs are encouraging at the Emirates. Arteta has built an exciting squad, and the average age of the Gunners' starting XI is the youngest (24 years, 230 days) in the Premier League.
However, as an embarrassing exit to Nottingham Forest in the third round of the FA Cup showed, Arsenal are far from the finished product. The Gunners also came up short against Liverpool in the Carabao Cup semi-finals.
There is no doubt that Arteta has built a solid foundation. But the ownership and players now need to step things up if the Gunners are to continue their upward trajectory and move up a level. On that note, let’s take a look at five pressing issues the London club must address this summer:
#5 Add some depth to the squad
Mikel Arteta has done a good job of rotating his players, but it is concerning that Arsenal have the joint-smallest squad in the Premier League (21 players). The Gunners rely heavily on their young core, which includes the likes of Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard, and Ben White.
Despite their good performances this season, it is important to note that the Gunners have not faced the distraction of European football. As a result, their workload, travel, and fixture list has been considerably easier to navigate.
The Gunners, though, are on course to secure qualification for next season's UEFA Champions League. If Arteta and co. fail to add high-quality backups, especially in midfield and up front, the harsh reality of a congested fixture list could hit them hard in 2022-23.
#4 Bring in veteran experience
Of their current 21-man squad, just three Gunners players are aged 30 or above. Interestingly, the trio - Bernd Leno, Cedric Soares and Alexandre Lacazette - all face uncertain futures at the club.
Having a young squad is very much a desirable prospect. But there have been occasions where Arsenal's inexperience has cost them. The league defeat to Manchester City in January and the Carabao Cup semi-final loss to Liverpool are two major examples of the same.
Even the other senior players, Granit Xhaka and Mohamed Elneny, are hardly inspiring leaders with title-winning experience. The Gunners could use a veteran presence on the pitch, such as Thiago Silva, Fernandinho and Cristiano Ronaldo at Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United respectively.
#3 Fill the hole in the middle of the park
Since Mikel Arteta's arrival, Arsenal have invested wisely and, as a result, have high-quality options in most areas of the pitch. Only a couple of glaring weaknesses remain, although they are both in areas of significant importance.
The first of these is in central midfield. The arrival of 28-year-old Thomas Partey from Atletico Madrid in 2020 for £45million is proving to be a decent bit of business. But aside from him, most of the Gunners' quality options in midfield are attacking midfielders such as Emile Smith Rowe and Odegaard, or widemen like Saka.
In the middle of the park, Mikel Arteta has had to rely on Granit Xhaka, Elneny and Albert Sambi Lokonga, along with Partey. Xhaka was on the verge of leaving London last summer and his inconsistent performances suggest Arsenal missed a trick by refusing to let him go. Meanwhile, Elneny has been linked with a move elsewhere as well.
Despite the Gunners' attacking brilliance and resilience, they will struggle to get past the final hump unless they add some quality to their central midfield options.
#2 Avoid another embarrassment in the transfer window
Arsenal were arguably the biggest losers in this season's winter transfer window, as the Gunners failed to sign any new players. Fans were excited when Mikel Arteta was pictured with club owner Stan Kroenke in late January. Many expected a late splash in the window but it never came.
Much like their bitter rivals Tottenham Hotspur, the Gunners missed out on all their rumored targets in January. Arteta's side had been linked with Dusan Vlahovic for months but saw the Serbian snapped up by Juventus.
Swedish forward Alexander Isak set alarm bells ringing when he was pictured in London, but it turned out to be a personal visit. Former Chelsea man Alvaro Morata was linked with a late move to the Emirates but nothing materialized.
Up until the recent winter window, the Gunners' work in the transfer market under Arteta had been exemplary. Another failure in the summer, though, could prove to be disastrous.
#1 Sign a new striker
Unearthing Arsenal's most glaring weakness does not require much in-depth research. The Gunners need to score more goals. With 43 goals in 26 league games, they are the lowest-scoring side in the Premier League's top-six.
Only Emile Smith Rowe has scored in double figures for the Gunners this season (10). Former captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang departed for Barcelona on a free transfer in the winter window. The move left Mikel Arteta with just two strikers in Alexandre Lacazette and Eddie Nketiah.
The duo have combined to score just 11 goals across all competitions this season. To make things worse, both of them are out of contract in the summer. Nketiah looks the more likely of the duo to leave on a free transfer at the end of the season.
Lacazette seems to have found form in recent weeks, but at 30 years of age, Arsenal could certainly do better. Arteta recently confirmed that the club would make a final decision on the Frenchman's future in the summer.
The London giants are currently way too reliant on production from out wide in the form of Saka and Gabriel Martinelli. Even if the Gunners do end up keeping Lacazette, they still need one, if not two, more striking options.
