Could Arsenal challenge for the title next season?
By James Reid
It has been almost 20 years since Arsenal last won the Premier League title and a difficult last few seasons has meant that it has not even been a realistic aim in recent years.
However, steady progress under Mikel Arteta has meant the Gunners are once again serious challengers for the top four and should Champions League football be secured, there will be question as to how far this side can go.
Arteta has been able to build his side around an exciting group of young players such as Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith-Rowe while simultaneously overhauling the rest of the squad.
This has seen players long past their best or ill-fitting to Arteta’s style leave the Emirates and a younger, more suited crop of players - such as Ben White and Takeheiro Tomiyasu – arrive.
Champions League football is still to be secured, of course, but if and when that is achieved the long-term aim for Arsenal must be about closing the gap between themselves at the top and becoming serious contenders for a first title since 2004.
However, if Arsenal are to become challengers it will require yet more improvement if they are to match the levels of Manchester City and Liverpool.
In normal circumstances, this current Arsenal side would likely not be too far off from being able to challenge as Mikel Arteta builds his squad around an exciting group of young players.
Indeed, the current squad is not far away from at the very least becoming a more regular and dominant contender for the top four.
Yet if Arsenal are to truly challenge City and Liverpool, perhaps two of the greatest sides ever seen in the Premier League, they will need to improve significantly once more to close such a large gap.
This will come in part through the continued development of the likes of Saka, Smith Rowe and Martin Ødegaard who appear to only be getting better and better but there are some holes to fill too if Arsenal are to become title challengers.
One of the most obvious additions if Arsenal are to challenge is a striker. The departure of Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang in January alongside the impending departure of Alexandre Lacazette in the summer leaves Arteta with few options up top.
Strikers of this nature and level are not easy to come by however, especially within a budget, so the Gunners may have to go for an option that is more unproven or in need of a season or too of development.
Someone such as Armando Broja may fit this mould and would undoubtedly be a good signing for Arsenal, fitting in with the rest of Arsenal’s youthful front line but it would be unlikely – though not impossible – that these players would be able to hit the ground running and score the number of goals needed for Arsenal to properly challenge.
There are further additions required at the other end of the pitch, too.
In Aaron Ramsdale Arsenal appear to have finally sorted a goalkeeping problem that has plagued them dating back as far as Jens Lehmann while Kieran Tierney, Takeheiro Tomiyasu, and Ben White are beginning to form the basis of a strong backline.
Yet it is likely that the Gunners need one other centre-back to at the very least challenge White and Gabriel, while a true defensive midfielder in the ilk of Fabinho and Rodri could also be required despite the recent addition of Thomas Partey.
Getting those additions right in the summer will be crucial to any chance of Arsenal being able to challenge at the top, and even then it is likely that next season will still be a bridge too far.
Though there is an exciting young core at the Emirates, they are still developing into the kind of players required to operate at the relentless levels of City and Liverpool.
The levels of consistency exhibited by the likes of Mo Salah and Raheem Sterling are frightening and it would be too much to expect that of Arsenal’s youngsters as soon as next season, though it is exciting to think where they could be in a few years.
All this means that while Arsenal fans are certainly right to be increasingly optimistic as they become serious top four challengers once more, there is likely too much to do for Arteta’s men to be challengers next season.
The right additions alongside the continued development of exciting youngsters such as Saka, Smith-Rowe, and Ødegaard will undoubtedly continue to see Arsenal move in the right direction and closer to Man City and Liverpool, but next season will come too soon.
