Mikel Arteta’s side saw him claim two trophies in the space of 3 weeks, and signs are looking promising for them ahead of the upcoming season. Ever since the departure of Unai Emery, there were question marks on the credibility and reputation of Mikel Arteta of whether he would be able to do justice to the manager’s job. But since taking charge he has been instrumental in a few victories and has also managed to give good input on some shrewd signings that have been wrapped up in the transfer market. So can Arsenal attain the central objective that the board would have asked him to do – qualify for the Champions League?
Transfer activity
In an effort to shore up the defensive side of things, Arsenal have had a mixture of permanent signings so far. With William Saliba’s loan ending and having made Pablo Mari and Cedric Soares’ loan moves permanent, the Gunners also completed a transfer for 22-year old centre back Gabriel Magalhaes from Lille. They are also rumoured to be looking at Thomas Partey from Atletico Madrid as well as Houssem Aouar from Lyon, meanwhile, they have extended Dani Ceballos’ loan in a midfield revamping campaign. Things so far though, are looking rosy for Arsenal fans in terms of the market.
Strength
Mikel Arteta having received tutelage from Pep Guardiola himself, also believes in a similar style of attacking football and pressing the opposition to force mistakes. They have thus far not had any major problems finding the back of the net, but the real positive seems to be in the fact that Arsenal have been more defensively composed under Arteta than under his predecessor. In the 15 games that Arteta has managed in the Premier League, Arsenal have conceded just 12 goals. Supporters can only hope that with a host of defensive signings, they would look to be even more solid at the back
Weakness
Unfortunately, what seems to be a newfound strength has also historically proven to be a weakness for Arsenal. In a much more micro perspective, Arsenal did not have the best of away records last season and conceded first due to self-induced errors and a lack of simple communicational organisation at the back. There also seems to be a problem for Arteta of how he can get the front three of Aubameyang, Lacazette and Pepe to play as a functional unit rather than just heavily depending on Aubameyang doing the hard work, which was the case last season.
Key players
It goes without saying that star forward and captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang would prove to be the inspirational figure for all the Arsenal players. His wavy trickery and sublime skills have placed him in the elite bracket of Premier League strikers, while also achieving an impressive feat of scoring 20+ goals in consecutive seasons. Aside from the talisman, it is also set to be a big season for Nicolas Pepe, who has not exactly taken the league by storm. The 72-million pounds record signing will look to contribute much more in the 2020-21 season and have a better individual season in terms of numbers.
Predicted table finish
5th Place: Arsenal definitely have enough to go about themselves in a new regime under Arteta. Their test of mental strength will, however, be to the fact of whether they can do it consistently and sadly, they might be slightly behind in those terms amongst the other contenders.
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