The top four has always been there or there about’s in the recent years, with the only anomaly in 2012, when Spurs got 4th and Chelsea came 6th, but pipped Spurs from their Champions League spot by the winning the competition and earning automatic qualification.
It’s fluctuated between Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, United, and City over the last 5 or so years and I can’t see it changing in the next 5 years.
Now, Arsenal have controversially been criticised by celebrating the position of fourth in an ‘over-the-top’ manner. However, why can’t they celebrate another year of Champions League football, and being the 4th best team in England?
After just a point needed to secure the elusive Champions League spot for the 18th year in a row, Arsenal surely need to be doing more than qualifying 3rd or 4th again and again. But how are they going to do it?
Looking at Chelsea, they have ‘world-class’ performers in each position. Each of their positions are starting International players and perform regularly at an extremely high level, which is why they have won the league so convincingly this year.
Arsenal however, do have that but on a smaller-scale. The majority of our players in the XI represent their countries but don’t start as first choice. For instance, Giroud. Yeah he plays frequently, but there are better, like Benzema, and equally like Nacho or Gibbs, there are better.
Now where do we go from here?
First of all: SIGNINGS
GK – Cech would be a world class signing and should be first player on the list this summer.
LB – although I have said there are better, only 1 or 2 though. I don’t think a left-back is crucial.
CB – Koscielny is one of the League’s best. Gabriel looking strong. Per is captain and has had a crucial role this season. Backup needed for solidarity, Gastan? Bonucci?
RB – with Jenko coming back, Debuchy going strong, Chambers and Bellerin breaking through, our RB department is arguably one of our strongest.
CDM – Schneiderlin would be perfect, BPL adapted, french, he has Arsenal all about him. Khedira, Kondogbia and Carvalho wont be bad shouts either. Although Coquelin is getting to a point where we don’t actually need a replacement.
CAM – Isco would be world-class, potentially in replacement to Cazorla. Again, one of our strongest departments. Would love Fekir.
LW/RW – Chamberlain, Welbeck, Walcott, Alexis. Strength in depth.
ST – Giroud simply needs a supporting striker. Not to replace him, but to help and so we can adapt to games more freely. In a game where you need an extra outlet, Lacazette would be ideal. Welbeck and Walcott need to be trained into strikers, but both can make their prime. Not to forget the ‘entering prime’ Higuain or Benzema, class
STRUCTURE/FORMATION – MIDFIELD
I am a huge fan of the 4-1-4-1, which is what we played in the infamous 2-0 win away at City. However, it means that either Özil or Ramsey will have to draw wide, which is where they’re weakest. It seems like we haven’t quite found a happy medium where we are strongest and it’s something crucial which needs altering immediately. I think Coquelin is perfect for us as he is strong, physical and knows the game, so having him in between midfield and defence has really helped us out. Cazorla is playing the best football of his career so far, so is one of the first on the team-sheet in my eyes. Leaving the dilemma of that final midfield three spot, Ramsey reaching his peak, Wilshere brings something extra, Chamberlain wanting to fulfill his dream of playing in centre-midfield, not even to mention Arteta, Diaby, Flamini, giving Wenger no less than a headache but a flurry of first-team options.
Like previous successful sides like Barca, Madrid, Chelsea and United, a solid midfield is vital.
Along with key signings and a structure in our midfield formation, i feel a better adaption to games is equally as important.
ADAPTION
Mourinho openly came out and said that he focuses on his opposition’s weak spot before he thinks about how they’ll affect them with his strong spot. Although it is something which every manager does, I feel that Wenger needs to trump the team we are against before they trump us. City away is a perfect example, we stopped David Silva before they prevented our high press and speed on the counter. However, against Chelsea at home, we diverted from flooding their defence therefore they managed to stop us from attacking. Perhaps we were too cautious because of the importance a loss would have been, but there was no harm in trying them right from the word go. Chelsea were defensively sound and managed to stop us from scoring, a Mourinho masterclass.
Therefore, I feel this is the approach more often, in fact to every game. It will help us to pick up important results in big games home and away and so we can move further up the table and manage to compete and perform at higher levels in the Champions League.
Do you agree? Leave a comment.
Arsenal 