With the world-class addition of Chelsea’s Petr Čech set to be completed within in a matter of days, it looks to be the start of a fruitful transfer window as Arsenal begin to build a title winning team. But how does their current squad compare to that of the current Premier League champions?
Last summer an exodus of Chelsea players paved way for much improved recruits. Their entire front line which featured Samuel Eto’o, Fernando Torres and Demba Ba were all shipped out after a mediocre showing up front during 2013/14 campaign, managing only 19 league goals between.
In stepped hit-man Diego Costa from Atletico Madrid from over £30m, Loïc Rémy who impressed during his loan spell at Newcastle and club legend Didier Drogba to replace them.
Following the conclusion of the World Cup, Arsenal made Barcelona forward Alexis Sanchez their first summer signing for £35.2m, proving to be the club’s most influential acquisition netting 25 goals in all competitions, including the FA Cup final. He and deadline day signing Danny Welbeck, joined Olivier Giroud and Theo Walcott in Arsenal’s front line.
Between them, they managed 39 league goals compared to Chelsea’s current frontmen, who managed 31. Overall, the Blues may have outscored the Gunners in the league season, but only by two goals – 73 to Arsenal’s 71. These pleasing statistics show how potent Arsenal’s attackers are, and how close to Chelsea the team is in terms of goalscoring.
Had Giroud and Walcott been fit throughout the entire season, I reckon Arsène Wenger’s men would’ve hopped, skipped and jumped over Chelsea’s overall goal tally last season.
José Mourinho had a title winning team already featuring the likes of John Terry, Thibaut Courtois and Eden Hazard taking shape before the start of the campaign, but their most talked about summer signing was that of former Gunner Cesc Fàbregas from Barcelona.
The Spaniard joined the Blues after it was reported Wenger swerved the chance of bringing the then 27 year-old back to the Emirates, despite having first option to buy.
It goes without saying that many Arsenal fans felt angry and confused at Wenger’s decision to let Fàbregas move to their fierce London rivals, who went on to have an impressive début season at Stamford Bridge, claiming 19 assists on the way to Chelsea’s title triumph.
However, when considering the likes of Mesut Özil, Santi Cazorla, Jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey already at the club, it was a justified decision not to add further congestion in that area of the squad. On evidence, the Gunners’ midfield is well stacked in numbers and quality. Fàbregas’ arrival would’ve only been a problem for one or two of these players.
However, what Arsenal missed massively throughout much of the season was a defensive midfield player, with the likes of Mikel Arteta and Mathieu Flamini failing in that position.
Having already brought Nemanja Matić back to the club in January of last year, Chelsea had the presence of a fantastic anchor man to add the muscle and balance to a midfield, featuring the more creative likes of Fàbregas and Oscar.
So when Francis Coquelin was called back from a loan spell Charlton, he became the team’s answer to Matić – a very impressive one too. He was a crucial part of Arsenal’s revival and Wenger’s ‘park the bus’ tactics, which famously kept out Manchester City in January – arguably the team’s best performance of the season.
Both team’s must add to that area of the field though, with Chelsea’s John Obi Mikel likely to exit Stamford Bridge, and Arteta and Flamini becoming ageing members of the squad.
In defence, having sold centre-back Thomas Vermaelen to Barcelona before the Community Shield, Wenger’s decision not to replace the Belgian proved pivotal, as the Gunners notably struggled for stability at the back during the first months of the season.
World Cup winner Per Mertesacker was visibly struggling for form and Laurent Koscielny’s injury forced the manager into playing Nacho Monreal out of position. The manager finally realised his costly mistake and brought Gabriel from Villarreal in January, to add more depth and quality to the back four.
At the back is probably where the Gunners edge Chelsea in terms of depth, if you look past the first choice line-up consisting of Branislav Ivanovic, Gary Cahill, Terry and Cesar Azpilicueta. The only two senior options they have are Kurt Zouma and Filipe Luís.
Another area which has proved to be the Gunners’ Achilles heel is the goalkeeping position. Where Chelsea had the luxury of Courtois and Čech to choose from every week, Arsenal had an under performing Wojciech Szczęsny and new man David Ospina.
Ospina who arrived from French side OGC Nice, was brought in to provide competition to the Polish international. The Columbian enjoyed a prolonged stint as No.1, managing 8 Premier League clean sheets.
But despite showing some decent quality in goal, he’s proven that Arsenal still lacked the presence of a world class ‘keeper, with some suspect performances in the closing stages of the season, against Swansea and West Brom where he was at fault both goals conceded in those games.
On the other hand, Courtois’ golden glove heroics of 13 clean sheets helped his side win the league. With the vastly experienced Petr Čech as a mentor, it’s no wonder the Belgian excelled throughout the campaign. The signing of Čech from Chelsea will ensure that Arsenal have the security of a world-class man in their goalkeeping ranks.
Arsenal’s performance at home to Chelsea in April showed how far the team has come and that they’re not as far away from the champions, despite the 13 point gap between them.
With the quality and numbers the squad now has, with competition for every position in the team being as intense as ever, the addition of just 2 or 3 more players this summer would go long way to challenging for the title.