Five reasons to believe Arsenal can win the League

A little less than two weeks separates us from pre-season and the start of a brand new Premier League season. Arsenal are of course coming off the back of a repeat FA Cup triumph and a strong end to the league campaign. For the first time in a while, Arsenal secured a third place finish and automatic entrance into the Champions League group stage, and will glad to avoid the qualfying rounds. The hope will be to conserve the energy for the Premier League run in, which will be surely be Arsenal’s main focus.

The club are searching their first Premier League title since 2004, and at the risk of sounding cliche, next season will be huge. For years Arsenal showed glimpses of their capability, but the past few seasons in particular showed how much the squad has matured. The proverbial gel looks to have finally set, and the youngsters of years past are now seasoned veterans. Have a look at five reasons to believe can win the league next season.

Improved goalkeeping? Cech

Not to place enormous pressure on this man’s back, but the arrival of Cech will go a long way to shoring up our defence and decreasing the amount of goals conceded. While Arsenal still of course need more reinforcements to follow Cech into Arsenal, he is the kind of marquee signing to help challenge for a title. Like John Terry said, Cech is good for an extra 10-15 points, enough to win the league easily. Of course it is not that simple, and the back line has to play well in front of him, but his arrival is significant enough to instill belief.

Stability

Arsenal have a new found stability to them and while much of it is down to this man and his invaluable work in front of the back line, the entire squad deserves credit. The team’s emphasis on defencive solidarity off the ball has been refreshing and it is safe to say the lads finally get it. You cannot go gun ho all the time and so many times in the past Arsenal were punished for it. The lads are now much more willing to sit tight and keep their shape when they don’t have the ball and it makes us all the more harder to beat. With talks of possibly another defensive midfielder coming in, Arsenal could finally have strengthened the underbelly that has hurt the side so much in the past.

Consistency is key

Arsenal’s form over during the second half of the season was exceptionally consistent and consistently exceptional, hoisting the club from fifth to second. That string of performances gives us reason to believe that the boys will fire from the gate this time around and cut out the slow start of last season. Many of the lads have spoken of the team’s ambition to start strong this season, and if Arsenal can maintain that kind of form all throughout the season they will be very difficult to catch.

Full squad and new transfers

For the first time in a while, Arsene Wenger will have his full array of players to choose from coming into the season. The injury bug is known to favour Arsenal more so than most clubs, but at the monent there are no long term injuries to report. The likes of Debuchy, Chamberlain, Welbeck, and Arteta (if he is signed to another contract), who missed the majority of the second half of the season are all scheduled to turn up for preseason training while Walcott and Wilshere have of course already returned. This clean bill of health as well as the expected transfer arrivals should put Arsenal in a good position to start strong. It also doesn’t hurt that Arsenal won’t have to travel long distances to play Champions League qualifiers this season.

Plan B

Just as Arsenal has established a new found stability, a new plan B has also been put in place. It goes along with the defensive shape and discipline discussed earlier, but also entails a bit of counter attacking when necessary. It is fun to watch Arsenal employ this new uncharacteristic style where they soak up the pressure and compact the space to create the chance for a counter. As opposed to the usual gunslinger mentality, Arsenal are happy to concede a bit of possession on occasions and press high up the field to force errors. It works brilliantly when done right, as teams are squeezed out of the match. The lads showed it against City away, and again against United in the FA Cup win and it gives Arsenal another dimension. It gives Arsenal the ability to “win ugly” which they struggled to do in the past and with that added to their bag of tricks, it makes them all the more formidable. Wenger’s men are much more willing to adapt a conventional and pragmatic approach when the free flowing attacking play isn’t coming off, and when done right is make us incredibly hard to break down. If we can learn to trust it and employ more often, we will win more points and more important stop dropping points unnecessarily.