Arsenal’s top four rivals analysed: Man Utd, Tottenham, West Ham, Wolves

It is all about the top four. That is all anyone can speak about now, because it’s all Arsenal have left to play for in the Premier League this season.

Not investing whatsoever in the January transfer window constituted a huge opportunity missed for Arsenal, specifically because they’ve bridged the gap in the division to place themselves in the hunt to return to the fabled Champions League.

They absolutely can achieve that.

What is standing in their way? The other teams who feel they’re as much in the race as anyone else: Manchester United, Tottenham, West Ham and Wolves.

Arsenal’s top four rivals analysed: Manchester United, Tottenham, West Ham, Wolves and all their biggest strengths in the Premier League

No Brighton? No Leicester? No Chelsea? Based on what we’ve seen so far and how the table looks, no. The Blues could be dragged back in with their form dipping and Thomas Tuchel persisting with using Romelu Lukaku as the lone striker he most definitely is not, but they probably have too much quality across their team to be considered.

Securing top four is the not the be-all and end-all for Arsenal. After all, when the backlash came in for the club’s summer business and they fell to three consecutive defeats to start the season, a Europa League place would have been considered progress.

It still would, in the context of the rebuild being undertaken, but while the top four is achievable it has to be gunned for. It would have a transformative impact on the club.

What it won’t be is easy. Each of the sides challenging for that elusive fourth place all have their own ‘superpower’: a USP that this Arsenal side arguably don’t have.

So, what are their respective superpowers exactly?

Wolves – Defensive Foundation

How can a team who have only scored 19 goals in their 21 matches this season ever be considered as genuine challengers for a top four place? Only Norwich and Burnley have scored fewer goals and both are entrenched in a relegation dogfight.

It stems from the strength of their defence. Their tally of just 16 conceded all term is bettered only by Manchester City.

Losing seven matches this season, only two of those have been by more than a single goal, and on only three occasions all campaign have they conceded two goals in a single match.

While they remain outsiders to sneak into the top four, considering they are only two points off Arsenal with the same number of matches played and face them twice over the course of February, they have every single chance of being thrust into the conversation like everyone else.

Silently going about their business with a back three of Romain Saiss (Toti while Saiss has been at AFCON), Conor Coady and Max Kilman, Bruno Lage has forged a defensive foundation built on tight and aggressive marking and utter aerial dominance brought upon by a drilled midfield congesting central spaces. It’s working superbly, and when it doesn’t they call upon the outstanding Jose Sa to bail them out.

Of course, the drawback is that they don’t score anywhere near enough goals. Hwang Hee-chan has signed permanently but has only four goals in the league this season, which is matched only by Raul Jimenez. That could be their undoing.

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