Arsenal: 4 most improved players this season

Collectively this Arsenal team have come an incredibly long way. From where they were to where they are has made for enthralling viewing and, best of all, they’re still nowhere near the finished article.

Supporters have loved watching this team develop, and have been completely wrapped up in the exciting hunt for the top four positions.

Arsenal are still well in the pursuit for Champions League football and, watching some of the players week in week out, you can’t help but feel many of them are deserving of playing at that level.

Everyone is still aware that changes need to happen, though. Alexandre Lacazette is leading the line to the best of his abilities as he glues all of the younger and more dynamic components together, and when Arsenal sign his replacement this team will raise its level even higher.

Arsenal: The 4 most improved players under Mikel Arteta this season as Gunners remain in hunt for Premier League top four

Individually speaking, however, we have already seen a host of players lift their respective levels across the campaign, one which now has only ten matches left to play.

Numerous players have stood out for Arsenal, but who has taken the biggest strides of all? Who has upped their game considerably from last season?

Four spring to mind.

1. Emile Smith Rowe

On the one hand you can’t leave Gabriel Martinelli out of the team, yet on the other it is such a shame not to see Emile Smith Rowe playing week in and week out. He’s been magnificent this season.

Suffering a series of niggling injuries, and being the victim of Martinelli’s brilliance, has seen him start just five of the last 16 Premier League matches. Still, despite his limited minutes, the improvements across his game have been noticeable throughout.

The standout area is his goal output. Mikel Arteta said that in order to be a leading Arsenal No. 10 you need he needs to be hitting 15 goals and ten assists, and while the latter looks unlikely, he may very well meet the former.

His movement has always been silky on the eye, but now he’s finding the timing that proficient forwards need when arriving in the box. Add to that his finishing, which has come on leaps and bounds with both feet, and you’ve got this exciting package who has built on the excellent traits he showed last season in other areas of the pitch.

Much like Saka he uses his physicality really well, and the end result is a more rounded forward who excels playing on the exterior and drifting into positions of threat.

There is such a huge future ahead of him.

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