Can Arsenal challenge for the Premier League title?
When Thierry Henry told the world that he doubted his former club Arsenal could challenge for the Premier League without a quality striker, aside from a jibe at the expense of Olivier Giroud he may have been correct.
Last season, the Gunners fell four points shy of second-place Manchester City despite being in poll position to finish above them, and finished twelve points behind eventual champions Chelsea. However, the season was ruled a success for the red of North London as they again qualified for the Champions League and added a second straight FA Cup to the trophy cabinet – a respectable achievement.
However, Arsenal have been relatively quiet thus far in the transfer window, only adding former Chelsea keeper Petr Cech with no one going out the other way. Make no mistake – the addition of a player of Cech’s quality was and should be celebrated highly by the Arsenal faithful, as he provides quality competition for David Ospina and adds to the depth of the 3rd best defense in the Premier League last season in terms of goals allowed behind only Chelsea and, oddly enough, Southampton.
Defense was not the issue for Arsenal, however – they need more goals from their out-and-out strikers.
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Last season’s addition of Chilean winger Alexis Sanchez proved more than enough of a payout as he dished out 8 assists while scoring 16 goals in 34 appearances, but after being plagued by injury, Theo Walcott only managed 5 goals in 26 appearances out wide. England’s future star Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain scored just one goal in his 21 appearances, and the rest of Arsenal’s midfield of Cazorla, Ramsey, Özil, and Wilshere scored 21 goals combined. Arsenal’s strikers Olivier Giroud and Danny Welbeck, however, scored a combined 18 goals in 52 appearances, a number that will have to improve if they want to challenge the likes of Chelsea and the two teams from Manchester.
As the transfer windows fiery rumors burn eternal, the Gunners are again linked with the likes of Karim Benzema and Gonzalo Higuain and again may be disappointed in their headhunt for another striker to help the Frenchman Giroud up top. Napoli has remained firm that Higuain is only available for a massive price tag, one that Arsenal are not like to comply with, and the future of Benzema remains uncertain as new Real Madrid boss Rafa Benitez has yet to decide who he wants in the #9 role. Combine all of this with the fact that Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger said they are unlikely to sign another attacking player this window and there are still some questions in this area going forward.
Simply put, Arsenal are incredibly talented and have all the pieces to challenge for a Premier League title, but they need those pieces to be as prolific as possible in order to maintain their status as true title challengers. They can challenge with Giroud, yes, but they will need close to 20 goals from the Frenchman this coming season as well as what they got from Alexis and others. The key thing going forward for the Gunners though is no surprise – they must remain healthy. If they can avoid injuries and losing big players for months on end they are far more likely to mount a challenge on the likes of Chelsea and the teams from Manchester.