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How Arsenal should be looking to strengthen this summer’s window

By on April 2, 2024

Martin Zubimendi Real Sociedad

The future of Arsenal FC has never looked brighter and Gunners’ fans have seen a pleasing trend over the last five years. The trend is that of progression. Since the 2016-17 campaign, we were hovering just below European qualifying spaces and resigned to mediocrity, but in the last few seasons, this has changed.

The 2021-22 season was the start, and then we had a fantastic second-place finish last year and were only five points from taking the EPL from City. This season, things are looking even better and we are currently embroiled in a bitter top-place race with the Blues and Liverpool.

Indeed, things for Arsenal couldn’t be better and hopefully, we can claim the Premier League title at the end of this season. However, there’s no denying that the squad has room for growth, and we can still strengthen our position and try to pull further away from the pack and make a concerted push into Europe, and this is what I look at below.

Current EPL position and outlook

Let’s take a look at current standings in the Premier League. You know things are tight at the top when sportsbooks are giving close odds to a handful of teams, with sites such as kwiff showing really close odds between Liverpool, Man City and Arsenal. While most people are rightly looking at Arsenal, Liverpool and City for the title, it’s perfectly possible – though highly unlikely – for Villa or Spurs to catch up. The top three are tied on games played too, so none of the clubs have any games in hand.

So, although we are in the top three spots, we certainly aren’t head and shoulders above the rest, so making moves in the summer to strengthen the squad makes sense.

Remaining games

What about our remaining games and how does our schedule look?

  • Aston Villa – 14/04
  • Wolves – 20/04
  • Chelsea – 23/04
  • Spurs – 28/04
  • Bournemouth – 04/05
  • Man United – 11/05
  • Everton – 19/05

The schedule is pretty decent, with only Spurs, Villa and Man United who may pose a problem. We certainly need to win the matches against the mid and bottom feeders like Luton, Everton, Chelsea and Bournemouth.

Squad weaknesses and room for improvement

Various injuries have hampered Arsenal’s progress and highlighted weaknesses in specific areas. For example, when Ødegaard got injured, it showed that we have a vulnerability in the midfield, and many have questioned the form of Kai Havertz. Indeed, this could be an area the management looks to strengthen during the summer.

Our defence is pretty solid and when looking at the surrounding teams, we have the best gold record and lowest Goals Against compared to City and Liverpool. I feel that the midfield is certainly an area that could do with improvement, but we don’t lack goalscoring capabilities, with an impressive 70+ goals scored over our current EPL matches.

It seems that the management also potentially sees the weaknesses in the midfield, as it has been reported that we will try and sign Martin Zubimendi from Real Sociedad this summer. The upcoming Sociedad star could be a fantastic replacement for Partey, who has had numerous injury problems this season.

Other potential midfield players who are reportedly on the Gunners’ radar are the Brazilian Douglas Luiz, currently at Billa, and Amadou Onana, who has been a solid contributor to the defensive midfield of Everton – despite their poor form. Other than that, there isn’t a huge improvement and it’s more a case of allowing the squad to gel, and developing solid tactics and rotations to counter the teams we’ve had issues with.

Arsenal should look to maintain their strength to continue EPL success and triumph in Europe

With Arsenal’s current form, our fantastic winning streak and Premier League record, it’s difficult to spot weaknesses and point to one particular area where we could make big improvements. For all intents and purposes, the squad is really strong!

As I have mentioned, it looks as if the front office is making moves to shore up our midfield, which is probably the one area where we sometimes lack. By doing this, Arsenal can continue to dominate in the Premier League, make a better push for silverware outside the league trophy, and strive towards improved competition in Europe.