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For the first time in perhaps six years, Arsenal are being viewed as legit title contenders. With back to back wins at Wembley over the Premier League champions, Arsenal have never looked stronger than they have now. Beating Chelsea on three of the last four occasions suggests that Arsenal are showing signs of having a champion’s mentality.
The new season now offers tremendous hope for the Gunners as they look set to end a 13-year Premier League drought.
Here are 5 reasons why Arsenal have a shot at winning the EPL this year.
#5 Granit Xhaka and Shkodran Mustafi have settled
Throughout the 2016/17 campaign, Arsenal’s big money signings in Granit Xhaka and Shkodran Mustafi were scrutinised and disregarded. Xhaka was often pulled upon for his ‘aggressive’ nature and poor tackling stance, while Mustafi was simply labelled a poor defender. Fast forward a year and the duo are set to show the world why Arsène Wenger entrusted so much faith in them.
In the Community Shield, Granit Xhaka put in a man of the match performance that justified his £35m fee. The Swiss man maintained 91% pass accuracy, dictating the whole flow of the game. He’s now fully acclimatised to the pace of English football, meaning he won’t be making late tackles nor will he be taking too long on the ball anymore.
In a back three, Mustafi will also find life easier as the defensive cover for him is more than that of a back four. Less focus will be placed on his individual defending as he’ll be asked to uphold a defensive unit instead.
#4 Alexis Sánchez is determined
Rumours suggest that Alexis Sánchez will be offered a huge new incentive-based contract at the end of next season if Arsenal are to break the top 4 again. Arsène Wenger categorically denied Sánchez the chance to move anywhere this summer, forcing the Chilean to stay at the Emirates. In turn, we will now see the 28-year old at his best. Sánchez is not one to sulk or deliberately put in subpar performances, he’s an animal that channels his anger into winning football games.
That kind of fire will push Arsenal on to greatness as the intensity will spread across the team. Despite the uncertainty over his future, Sánchez scored 24 league goals and supplied 12 assists last season, now imagine what he’ll do knowing he’s at the club for sure this season.
#3 No uncertainty over Arsene Wenger’s future
Speaking at an FWA event in London, Arsène Wenger admitted that he felt the uncertainty over his future affected the team’s performance throughout the season. He revealed that several players came into his office to ask about his undecided future. On the 30th of May, after the club had lifted the FA Cup, Wenger put pen to paper on a new 2-year deal.
Now that the debacle over Wenger’s future has been put to bed, everyone at the club can channel their attention towards a title charge. Last season, the fans created a volatile atmosphere at the club as thousands would scream for the Frenchman’s head every week. This atmosphere clearly affected the players as they were distracted and responded by putting in subpar performances.
The Arsène Wenger fiasco is over and now he & his players can focus on winning the Premier League.
#2 They’ve finally bought a clinical striker
For years upon years, the Arsenal faithful have cried out for the boss to replace the goal scoring hole that Robin van Persie left behind. Back in 2012, Arsenal sold their top scorer in Van Persie and replaced him with Olivier Giroud and Lukas Podolski, however, neither were able to replicate the form of the Dutchman. Neither of those are as clinical as the Dutchman.
Now Arsenal have broken their club record to sign a man that is synonymous with goal scoring.
Last season, no player who had scored 20+ goals in Europe’s top 5 leagues had a better conversion rate than Alexandre Lacazette. The Frenchman scored 33.3% of the shots he took last year, a better rate than both Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
#1 No Champions League football
For the first time in Arsène Wenger’s reign at the club, the Gunners will not be involved in Champions League football. Such a unique situation will allow this top 4 contending team to focus on what the fans want the most, the Premier League.
Arsenal may be in the Europa League but for a club of the stature of Arsenal, the competition is only as important as the EFL Cup. The competition will be used to give fringe players game time and opportunities to experiment new tactics.
We saw how much not having European football helped the likes of Chelsea and Liverpool last year, as they were literally undistracted for more than half the campaign. Their thin squads weren’t stretched to the limits like Arsenal’s was.
Now Arsène Wenger for the first time in his career can focus solely on the Premier League title without worrying about mid-week ties in Barcelona or Munich.
