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Throughout his time in charge of Arsenal, manager Arsene Wenger has experienced talk of a ‘crisis’ on plenty of occasions. But more often than not, he has managed to avoid an actual crisis.
The doom-mongers will be out in full force if Arsenal lose to Manchester City on Sunday, falling a potential nine points behind Chelsea. Defeat at the Etihad will mean two defeats in two games. ‘You should have bought a proper centre forward Arsene’, ‘Coquelin’s not good enough Arsene’. The usual arguments will come to the fore. But a comfortable run of fixtures over the Christmas period should mean that if the worst does happen at City, Arsenal will still enter the New Year in good health.
Have Arsenal Changed?
Since the last title win in 2004, Arsenal have faced the same old accusations and it cannot be denied that Wenger has been slow to fix many of them. The gap between goalkeeper Jens Lehmann’s exit in 2008 and Petr Cech’s arrival in 2015 meant that Arsenal were without a world class stopper for too long.
The same goes for the holding midfielder position where Gilberto was only truly replaced by Coquelin in 2015 when the Frenchman produced a breakout performed in the 2-0 win at Manchester City. He may not be world class but he performs an invaluable role and Arsenal have no one else quite like him.
Years of watching Per Mertesacker bumble around next to Laurent Koscielny in the centre of defence have only been brought to a close by Wenger’s uncharacteristically large spend on Shkodran Mustafi.
And we haven’t even touched on the fact that until Alexis Sanchez’s emergence as a stealthy centre forward rather than winger, Arsenal have lacked a world class player in this position since Robin van Persie’s defection to Manchester United in 2012.
But these issues have now been largely addressed, and when one considers that the Gunners boast two quality players for almost every position, there is a strong argument to be made that they lack the flaws of recent seasons. Regardless of what happens at City on Sunday, a genuine title challenge looks more likely now than at any time since the 2007/08 season when William Gallas’ histrionics at Birmingham City handed Manchester United and Chelsea a huge psychological boost.
Has 2016/17 Met Fan Expectations?
In short, yes. They are joint second in the Premier League and finished top of their Champions League group.
A calamitous central defensive display in the 4-3 home defeat to Liverpool on the opening day had boos ringing around the Emirates and you feared the worst for Wenger, with fans furious at his failure to sign a defender at that stage. But again, a crisis was averted. Mustafi was signed and Arsenal went unbeaten in the league until the 2-1 reverse at Everton on December 13.
They do lie six points behind leaders Chelsea but this has been a season where the old flaws have not really surfaced – no real defensive nightmares, a solid goalkeeper, a strong central midfield, pace (something missing in previous years), trickery and goals in attack.
Sanchez has been a revelation up-front, and was superb in Arsenal’s two best performances of the season – the 3-0 win over Chelsea and the 5-1 humiliation of West Ham United. It remains to be seen whether he is the long term answer at centre forward, particularly in the big games, but he’s doing a pretty good impression of a world class striker at present.
Will Arsenal Strengthen in January?
Barring a major injury in the next six weeks, Arsenal are highly unlikely to make any major additions. It’s not sexy and it probably isn’t what the fans want to hear, but Wenger will be aware that players such as Gabriel Paulista, Aaron Ramsey and Olivier Giroud are not getting consistent starts this season (injury-enforced in the case of the former duo) and with Danny Welbeck and Santi Cazorla still to return, he is spoilt for choice in most areas.
Wolfsburg midfielder Julian Draxler is regularly linked, but he will not arrive in January. Wenger’s main focus will be on securing Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil to new long-term contracts. Both deals expire in 2018 and the duo will be expecting the most lucrative contracts of their careers.
What Will Happen at Manchester City?
According to Betsafe, Arsenal could not be facing City at a better time. This is City team whose goalkeeper Claudio Bravo has looked ill-equipped for the demands of the Premier League and whose defence has been exposed on a number of occasions.
They will also be without the suspended Sergio Aguero, so the time may be ripe for Arsenal. But despite this, the Gunners should be wary. In Kevin de Bruyne – a scorer in last season’s corresponding fixture – David Silva and Raheem Sterling, City boast pace and guile in midfield. Whether Nolito or Kelechi Iheanacho starts in attack, this remains a quartet to be feared.
Arsenal produced one of their poorest displays of the season at Everton, with Mesut Ozil uncharacteristically quiet. Both teams have their issues at the back, which should make for goals. A draw in this fixture would raise few eyebrows, with Chelsea the real winners come Sunday night.
