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New Arsenal manager, Unai Emery, seems to have hit the spot with his team selection in recent weeks, with a rejuvenated Arsenal on a 7-match winning streak in the Premier League.
After 9 matches, the Gunners find themselves in a familiar position on the league table, the fourth place. While that is not optimal, Emirates faithful might rejoice the fact that they are currently ahead of their arch-rivals Tottenham Hotspur, who have been the better North London side in recent years.
This season, after the initial defeats at Stamford Bridge and at home to Manchester City, Emery’s men have shown great resilience to bounce back in quite some fashion, scoring 20 goals in the 7 league victories that followed.
So, the question here is, for how long is this purple patch going to last? And does this lady luck make them a serious contender for the title, after all these years of passable performances? A quick overview of their season so far might help us come to some cogent conclusions.
Into the post-Wenger era
After 22 years at the helm of Arsenal, Arsene Wenger, the legendary manager who oversaw the smooth transition of the club from Highbury to the Emirates stadium, resigned this summer. This was followed by an announcement of Unai Emery as the successor to the Frenchman.
Luckily, the Spaniard had decent players to experiment with at his disposal and had been shrewd in his summer signings, with the players like Lucas Torreira and Bernd Leno already impressing in their outings for the club.
This change of guard is proving to be much more than just a plain replacement of the manager. It is signalling towards a monumental shift in the club’s style of play, which was ingrained over the decades by Wenger.
Arsenal are looking more attacking than ever and are only behind league leaders Manchester City in terms of goals scored this season, notching up 22 in 9 games so far.
Emery’s eye for detail is well known and he is said to be extremely demanding of his players, as admitted by Arsenal players in recent interviews. His penchant for analyzing the opposition before every match is revolutionizing the way Arsenal players have been approaching their opponents this season.
Well, his tactics seem to be yielding dividends as the former Sevilla coach has led the Gunners to one of their best starts to a Premier League season in his first few months at the club.
Key players stepping up
Another important factor that has propelled the Gunners into the race for a top-four finish, if not the title, is the timely boost provided by key players, who have hit the ground running in the recent weeks.
Statistically, their two most expensive signings, Aubameyang and Lacazette, have been their best performing players on the pitch so far. Talk about getting your money’s worth.
Between them, the strikers have scored or assisted 13 goals in the league, which is more than half of all the goals scored by the Gunners. And Emery finally seems to have found the solution to the quandary of playing two world-class strikers simultaneously, which Wenger usually fumbled with.
Their partnership will be the key in firing the Gunners to the top this season.
Final thoughts
It might be early in the season to make any conclusive remarks on the outcome of Arsenal’s season. Yes, they are on an 11-game winning streak across all competitions, but we must bear in mind that they lost both of their games against a top-four club early in the season.
But, with a new Arsenal taking shape under Unai Emery, it might not be completely outrageous to say that Gunners are gunning strongly towards the title right now. Also, they have no undue pressure of being seen as the favourites, so if anyone can pull off a surprise this campaign, it has to be the North London club.
