3 positions for Arsenal to improve in transfer window

The latest look at the table sees Arsenal in fourth place. This international break has given us plenty of time to savour it.

It certainly has not been an easy road thus far, and the road ahead is tougher still. Crucial games against in-form sides will inform fans about how ready this Arsenal team is to challenge top teams in the years to come.

Top four is certainly within reach and with just ten matches left to play this team, while imperfect, are edging ever closer.

Supporters will certainly be excited by how the Gunners have performed, with the ceiling collectively and individually for many in this side astronomically high. Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Emil Smith Rowe still have room to develop.

3 positions for Arsenal to improve in the summer transfer window to lift the level of the squad and be competing in the Premier League top four regularly

No longer are fans forced to sit and watch aging stars way past their primes. This team will only get better, and it can be better with the help of a particular summer market.

Unfortunately, the teams around Arsenal will not sit still, either. They will continue to strengthen and overhaul their squads, as this club can’t afford to rest on their laurels.

Arteta has used every window possible to alter his squad – with the exception of the recent January – and he will continue to do so. Here are three positions that Arsenal must fill to consistently challenge for top four.

3. Winger

This position may come as a surprise to some. After all, Saka and Emile Smith Rowe have lit the Premier League alight. Martinelli has been a solid starter as well. The problem, however, is that other than these three players, the front positions are not as reinforced as they need to be.

Arsenal could be playing upwards of 50 games next season. The cup competitions and European matches necessitate backups.

With Aubameyang’s move to Barcelona, Nicolas Pepe remains the only senior option at winger in the squad. Arteta must look at bringing in a wide player to rotate.

Right now there is no reliable option. Saka continues to play an incredible amount of minutes because he performs a role nobody else can. What Arsenal need is another fast wide player, someone with presence, who can play on both sides, and is tactically astute. Pepe is not that guy, and while Saka’s position is more than safe, there needs to be someone who can help share some of the duties.

Any prolonged injury to Saka, Smith Rowe or Martinelli would leave those positions remarkably light. Add to that the referees’ willingness to let Saka get mauled every game and the terrifying possibility of being forced to play Granit Xhaka on the front line increases. Arteta has played him everywhere else to fill gaps, so watch him be converted into some outlandish inverted winger next.

As good as his form has been, I am not quite sure if the Swiss could cut it.

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2. Central Midfield

Arsenal’s midfield had been inconsistent for years before Thomas Partey’s arrival. Injuries, poor recruitment and a general lack of defensive awareness or physical presence meant that the midfield was porous and average at best. Arsenal did not have the flair to consistently create chances, nor the defensive nous to keep clean sheets, while bizarre tactical decisions under previous managers didn’t help either. Under Arteta’s coaching, however, Arsenal now have one of the best midfields in the league. Key to that development has been one word: balance.

Partey sits at the base of the midfield, providing defensive cover and ball progression. Odegaard can drop deep to combine with the Ghanaian while also providing that incision at the top half of the pitch. Both of these players and their specific positions have been integral to the free-flowing football fans have been treated to in the last few months.

It is Xhaka’s position is one that needs improvement.

The Swiss midfielder has done well enough in his newer role. He plays higher up than Partey, combining with Tierney and Martinelli on the left, where he is freer from his defensive duties. As a result, reckless challenges and poor positioning have been a rarity.

Yet this freedom requires the midfielder occupying that position to contribute goals and assists. Xhaka has a number of important qualities, and he is performing a role far from his skillset, but his scoring and general output are not at the level required. He also lacks the athleticism that the box-to-box role requires as the left-sided No. 8 needs a player that can run with the ball.

Arteta must look to strengthen this position come the summer. The other pieces in midfield have fallen into place. Once he finds an upgrade on Xhaka, the level of the team will go up once again.

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1. Striker

Surprise, surprise.

Part of the development of this Arsenal team has been the creation of new threats across the pitch. Saka, Smith Rowe and Martinelli provide pace and danger from wide areas, while the acquisition of Martin Odegaard has led to some consistent chance creation and goal threat from central midfield.

Partey, White and Gabriel are threats on set pieces. Tierney and Cedric are able to provide dangerous balls from their bursts forward. Yet out of all the positions on the pitch, the main threat is missing. Arsenal do not have a star striker.

Lacazette provides a physical presence up top. He can link up play, create midfield overloads and open space for those wide players to make runs in behind. Yet the simple fact is that the Frenchman does not score enough goals. He lacks the ability, fitness, and the confidence necessary to finish off unlikely (or even likely) chances. Placing the burden for goals on the wide players has worked thus far but is not sustainable, even if modern football has seen a continuous rise in goalscoring widemen.

The downsides of Arsenal’s No. 9 can also be discussed in terms of threat. The threat Lacazette provides is one-dimensional. While he can drop deep and link with Odegaard and Partey, he doesn’t pose the threat in behind. He can’t run. Defenses are wary and forced to mark a striker closely if he adds danger in front and behind them. Although the team he plays for is remarkably average at best, Harry Kane (sorry) is a fine example of someone who can do it all.

He can drop deep to pull players out of position and does this exceptionally well. Yet this is not all he has in his game. He is equally comfortable playing on the shoulder of the last defender and making those blind-side runs into space to finish off an assist. Lacazette does not do enough of the latter, while his ability to do the former is limited as well.

Striker is the most important of the positions that have been discussed. Replacing Lacazette with a player who can provide threat in multiple dimensions is key to Arsenal consistently challenging for top four. It will teleport this team into another galaxy.