PREMIER LEAGUE 2015/16 PREVIEW: Arsenal
By Lee Kilby
"It has been eleven years since Arsenal last won the English Premier League. The 2004 Arsenal team were known as ‘The Invincibles’ after an unbeaten season."
The team included players such as Thierry Henry, Patrick Viera and Dennis Bergkamp. Eleven years later, Arsenal haven’t won another EPL title and they went ten years without a trophy. The trophy drought finally ended in 2014 when Arsenal beat Hull City to win the F.A Cup.
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Many Arsenal fans wanted manager Arsene Wenger sacked during the 10-year trophy drought, but Arsenal have rightly sticked with him and he has repaid. Two trophies in the last two seasons is very good, although it is not the trophy Arsenal fans would most like to see.
Arsenal has constantly finished in the Champions League qualification places, but last season they achieved their highest finish in several years.
Arsenal had a new stadium built in 2006, and due to this Arsene Wenger only had a limited amount of money to spend on transfers, because of this they could never really compete with the top team in the EPL and the Champions League.
However, now those restrictions have gone and Wenger has the spending power to finally compete. He brought in Mesut Ozil from Real Madrid for £44 million and Alexis Sanchez from Barcelona for £35 million. Sanchez had a fantastic first season for Arsenal and Wenger will be hoping he can continue his form going into the new season.
Going into the new season, Wenger finally has a team capable of challenging for the EPL title. One of the main areas Arsenal needed to improve was the goalkeeper position. They haven’t had a goalkeeper who was good enough to help them win the Premier League, until now.
Wenger has brought in Petr Cech from Chelsea for £11 million. When you consider Cech is now 33, it seems overpriced, but when you consider how many more point a top goalkeeper like Cech can earn you, it seems like a bargain.
Chelsea captain John Terry admitted a goalkeeper like Cech can earn you an extra 10 points a season, to win the Premier League you must have a goalkeeper who can do that.
Another problem area for Arsenal is striker. Arsenal do have Giroud and Welbeck but neither of these are world-class strikers. Arsenal have been linked with Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema but that transfer looks unlikely. Someone of his quality would be perfect for Arsenal but there aren’t many world-class strikers available. Alexis Sanchez was Arsenal’s top scorer last season and he has shown he is good enough to lead Arsenal’s attack. This could be a good option for Arsene Wenger if he doesn’t manager to bring in another striker. If Sanchez has another season like the last one, he will be a very important factor in many of their games.
Arsenal also need another defender to bolster their defence. Koscielny, Mertesacker and Gabriel are their current senior centre backs but they would need another top-quality centre back, but again it is an area where the best players in that position are unavailable on the transfer market.
Petr Cech is currently Arsenal’s only summer signing. Wenger would like to add another midfielder to allow the skills of the likes of Aaron Ramsey, Jack Wilshere, Mesut Ozil and Santi Cazorla to flourish further.
Arsenal have got a good manager in Arsene Wenger and if he adds a couple more new signings, he will have a team capable of challenging for the Premier League this season.