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A new football season in England is upon us. The new season of the Premier League kicks off on Friday, August 10 with Manchester United hosting 2016 champions Leicester City at Old Trafford, and for the next nine months, we shall experience exhilarating football from one of the greatest leagues in the world.
All 20 teams in the Premier League will have different season objectives, the newly promoted teams would seek to continue enjoying the glamour and financial rewards of the top-flight by retaining their PL status, average to mid-table teams would seek to avoid an implosion which would see them battling relegation, similar to what happened to Stoke City last season, while the biggest small teams (the Burnleys, Evertons and West Hams) would battle it out for the left over European spots.
At the very top of the Premier League hierarchy is a group of teams so far apart from the rest of the league in quality and finances that they have an almost mini-league among themselves, and led to the christening of the term 'The top six'.
Each of Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham have aims of finishing top of the league (in higher degrees for some such as Man City and Liverpool), and all undoubtedly have aims of finishing in the top four and securing Champions League group stage spots.
Though they all have the requirements to mount a genuine top-four challenge, the limited spots available means that two teams must drop out.
Whilst they are collectively termed the 'top six', the truth is that some clubs in the six are significantly stronger than others, while the rest have more glaring weaknesses.
We will run a SWOT analysis of the EPL big six clubs outlining their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, beginning with Arsenal.
Outline
Strength: Key areas or qualities which the club possesses which puts it at an instant advantage, and makes it a contender
Weaknesses: Areas or qualities which put the club at an instant disadvantage and make it weaker than its opponents
Opportunities: Areas or qualities with potential to make the team stronger
Threats: Areas or qualities with potential to make the team weaker than its opponents
ARSENAL - STRENGTHS
Home form
Arsenal's away day blues in the Premier League are well documented, winning just 13 matches from a possible 38 away from home in the Premier League over the last two seasons. It is a wretched stat which has cost the Gunners dearly in recent years, particularly last season where they won only a measly four games at away grounds, infamously going on a five-month run from December of last year without an away league victory until a final day defeat of Huddersfield.
Last season, the Gunners finished a miserable 12th on the away table standings, scoring just 20 goals from 19 matches and conceding 31.
In contrast, they have been imperious at home, winning 29 of their 38 home matches in the same time-frame and finishing third on the home table in each of the last two league seasons.
Last season, Arsenal won an impressive 15 matches at home. They scored a remarkable 54 goals (the second highest behind Manchester City), and had the third-best home record in the league behind the Manchester clubs.
Arsenal's form at the Emirates has been imperious in recent seasons, and it will be a key factor in helping the club achieve its set objectives for the season.
Pierre-Emerick Aubammeyang
The Gabonese international is Arsenal's record signing, following his £56m transfer from Borussia Dortmund last January.
In Aubameyang, Arsenal have one of the best strikers in Europe, and he forged this reputation in Germany with Dortmund, where he scored 141 goals in 213 games across all competitions for the Signal Iduna Park outfit, including a 31-goal haul in the 2016/2017 season where he finished as the Bundesliga top scorer.
Likened to Arsenal legend Thierry Henry due to their similar playing pattern and speed, the 29-year-old Aubameyang impressed in his debut half season, scoring on his first game in an Arsenal shirt in the 5-1 rout of Everton in the Premier League, and ended the season with ten goals in just 13 league appearances.
Having the advantage of starting a new season fresh, and using the pre-season break to gel with his teammates, it most likely would only get better for Arsenal with Aubameyang, and the fans can be treated to the sight of a centre-forward banging in goals in a manner not seen since Thierry Henry himself graced the pitch in Arsenal's colors.
ARSENAL - WEAKNESSES
Poor defense
Petr Cech kept the 199th Premier League clean sheet of his career on 19 December 2017 in a 1-0 victory over West Ham, but had to wait almost three months until the 11th of March 2018 to get his 200th clean sheet, as Arsenal went on a run of 12 consecutive Premier League games in which they conceded.
Arsenal's wobbly defense contributed in a large way to their underperformance last season, as the center-back pairing of Laurent Koscielny and Shkodran Mustafi struggled to get to grips with the demands of marshalling the defense of a top-quality Premier League side.
Goalkeeper Petr Cech had the most errors (6) leading to goals in the Premier League last season, which was also the highest for a goalkeeper across Europe's top five leagues, while Granit Xhaka was not too far behind with three direct errors leading to goals. In total, the Gunners committed a league-high 12 errors leading to opposition goals last season, and sorting out their defensive mix-ups should be high on Unai Emery's to-do-list if he is to restore Arsenal to the pinnacle of English football.
Lack of on-field leaders
One of the hallmarks of a great team beyond having fantastic players is the strength of character possessed by the players, and it is a factor which the Gunners have been sorely lacking in recent seasons.
In times past, Arsenal's dressing room was replete with on-field leaders like Tony Adams, Patrick Vieira, Lee Dixon, Ray Parlour etc who were always there to lift their teammates with words of encouragement and scolding when necessary to get the team going even when things were going against them.
In recent seasons, Arsenal have lacked that on-field leadership, heads are quick to drop when they are faced with adversity, and there are no vocal leaders to urge their teammates on when they are faced against the odds. Furthermore, the retirement or departure of previously key players such as Jack Wilshere, Per Mertesacker and Santi Carzola will only highlight the problem more.
The lack of on-field leaders is a problem that has plagued the Gunners in recent seasons, and one that will likely still persist owing to the departure of the aforementioned players.
ARSENAL - OPPORTUNITIES
Unai Emery's appointment
46-year-old Unai Emery was appointed as Arsene Wenger's successor, with the Frenchman having stepped down at the end of last season after 22 years in charge of Arsenal.
The Spaniard has had a successful managerial career thus far, achieving success as coach of Sevilla and PSG, but will begin the most arduous test of his managerial career yet.
Wenger left very huge boots to fill, and Emery might find it difficult to fill those boots, however, the stagnation the club suffered under Wenger in the last few years means that the appointment of Emery represents an opportunity for the club to take the next step under the guidance of a new manager.
Whether Emery can step up to the plate remains to be seen, but what cannot be denied is that if he succeeds, the club would be better off for it.
Bernd Leno's arrival
Petr Cech signed for Arsenal from Chelsea in the summer of 2015 for £10m, and his arrival was widely cheered by Arsenal fans, as the then 33-year-old was still considered one of the best goalkeepers in the world, owing to his impressive performances in Chelsea's colors for over a decade since his 2004 arrival in the Premier League.
However, the story did not go according to plan for all involved. Petr Cech has been on a steady decline at the Emirates in each of the last three seasons he has spent between the sticks.
He led the way for errors committed last season leading to goals for goalkeepers across Europe's top five leagues with 6, and went three years without saving a penalty at Arsenal until he saved one from Troy Deeney in a 3-0 victory (in what happened to be his 200th Premier League clean sheet, and 16th penalty faced).
At 36, the former Czech international is beyond doubt past his prime, despite goalkeepers' famous longevity, and that is where Bernd Leno's signing could prove to be a masterstroke.
At 26, the German international has a lot of years of top-level goalkeeping left in him, and he comes highly recommended with one of the most burgeoning reputations, as a rising German goalkeeper.
He boosted his stock in the Bundesliga with Bayer Leverkusen, becoming the third goalkeeper in Bundesliga history to keep a clean sheet in his first three appearances, and a month later became the youngest German goalkeeper to feature in the Champions League when he made his UCL debut against Chelsea aged 19 years and 103 days.
He made a total of 233 league appearances for Leverkusen, and was a part of the Confederations Cup winning team in 2017. He would have undoubtedly had more than his 6 international caps but for the reputations of those ahead of him (Manuel Neuer and Andre Ter Stegen).
Most great teams are built on a solid goalkeeper, and Leno's signing could prove to be an act of genius from Arsenal, as the German could be key in helping the Gunners achieve their season's goals.
Mkhitaryan and Aubameyang partnership
Signed together by Jurgen Klopp in 2013 for Dortmund, Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan struck up a real chord at the Signal Iduna Park.
In their last season together, they contributed a whopping 90 goals for Dortmund, with the pair assisting each other 64 times, and were one of the most telepathic partnerships in Europe.
They had an innate ability to understand each other's runs and movements, with Mkhitaryan the chief supplier for Aubameyang's goals. They showed glimpses of their partnership last season, particularly on Aubameyang's debut where Mkhitaryan assisted him to open his Arsenal account, in what was an eventual hat-trick of assists for the Armenian in a 5-1 rout of Everton.
Arsenal fans have every right to be optimistic about the partnership of Mkhi and Auba on evidence of what they have done in the past, and if the two can gel together, then The Gunners can look forward to good times again.
ARSENAL - THREATS
Wenger's departure
Arsene Wenger stepped down as Arsenal manager at the end of last season, after 22 years in charge of the London club.
Even though a new generation of football fans grew up seeing Arsene Wenger and his Arsenal teams being associated with disappointments and failures owing to the dearth of silverware in the last decade of his tenure as Arsenal coach, the Frenchman departed as the most successful manager in the club's history.
Older fans remember the glory years during the early part of Wenger's reign, which brought a plethora of titles, including the 2004 league crown which was won by 'the Invincibles', who went an entire season unbeaten in an eventual league record 49-game unbeaten run.
In today's world of rapid hiring and firing of coaches, Wenger was truly the last representative of the old guard, and left an imprint so great on the club that it might be difficult to erase.
The 68-year-old became synonymous with everything connected to Arsenal for over two decades, and history has shown us that football teams moving on from such legendary coaches or players is rarely transient, with Sir Alex Ferguson as an example at Old Trafford.
Even though most Arsenal fans wanted to see the back of Wenger owing to the stagnation the club experienced under him, his departure might even prove more problematic for the team, and the Frenchman's successors might struggle to fill in the huge shoes he left behind at the Emirates.
Transfer Inactivity and departure of some key players
One major complaint from Arsenal fans in recent years has been the lack of activity by the club in the transfer market, watching on as their rivals strengthened with top quality players, while Wenger signed unknown quantities, at the same time selling off their major players to rival clubs, and this reflected in the club's poor performances.
It is a trend which has continued this season, as the likes of Manchester United and Liverpool have spent big to bring in necessary players. Arsenal have maintained the status quo, signing four players for a total of €79m, with Stephan Lichtsteiner coming in for free from Juventus, while a couple of others have come back from their loan spell.
Some major first-team players have departed the team, with Santi Cazorla and Jack Wilshere leaving the club on a free transfer after the expiration of their contracts, while Per Mertesacker retired and there is speculation linking Aaron Ramsey with a transfer away from the Emirates.
These were all major dressing room characters, so their departure will leave a huge void in the team, and with Arsenal's lethargic activity in the transfer market thus far, they might find themselves falling further behind their rivals in the coming season.
