Trophyless was the word by which Arsenal fans were mocked by their rival fan base. Arsene Wenger was made the scapegoat for Arsenal’s rapidly falling image. Arsenal under Arsene Wenger, despite all the criticism and mockery, stayed composed and maintained a consistent performance of being in the top four every season.
For a club like Arsenal’s stature,only a lucrative Champions League spot is never enough. You need to keep much higher aspirations and channelize your resources towards achieving them. Arsenal had always lacked the resources after their Emirates Stadium came into scene. Finally, the so called doom and gloom trophyless run ended as Arsenal won the FA Cup last season and again finished fourth.
But a trophy in their cabinet after 9 years is a moment to cherish certainly. “I’m very happy for the players because I think it was a turning point in the lifetime of this team, and to know they can win in that way was very important today.” – Arsene Wenger said after the FA Cup win. Arsene Wenger now looks all set to now not only strive for the Champions League spot,but also to clinch the Premier League title and his actions are just resembling what he spoke of. Arsenal signed the impressive Chilean international Alexis Sanchez from Barcelona for an undisclosed fee. He had a tremendous World Cup and many sought after him. But he chose Arsenal over all.With Theo Walcott, Alex Oxlade Chamberlain, Serge Gnabry, Santi Cazorla and now Alexis Sanchez-the speed and fast movement is going to be something to make the jaws of the fans drop.
The departure of the French right back and one of the fans favourite Bacary Sagna was marked by another French right back’s arrival with better stats than Sagna: Mathieu Debuchy. The most preferred right back for France, Mathieu joined Arsenal from Newcastle. Arsenal’s FA Cup hero Lukasz Fabianski joined Swansea. Wenger found a replacement- David Ospina, the Columbian goalkeeper who also had a eye catchy performance this World Cup. A great competition to Wojciech, Ospina will be a crucial element at Arsenal. Arsenal also sealed a deal for Southampton defender Calum Chambers. The player has the ability to play as a right back, centre back as well as a defensive midfielder. Versatile plus young plus huge potential – with 19 years of age, he can only get better.
Now the big question that hovers over Arsenal: Is this enough? Can they do it this time? Can they grab the EPL? Arsenal were at the top for the highest number of days last season. But it was their lack of squad depth and injury prone season that took the league title away from them. Wenger certainly learned from his mistakes and this time with much better resources and with transfer market not yet over, Arsenal can strike again with a purpose and believe: to really clinch that prestigious English title along with some other silverwares and a fair bit of run in the Champions League.
With the availability of many big names in the club and squad depth, the north London based team can really push for the title this term and mark their name in history again by clinching their 14th Premier League title. Other clubs like Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester City and United have been building around and fixing their teams as well with quality signings. The league is a journey of thirty eight matches and the team with much better results and consistency lays it’s hands over the title. With the youth ranks and seniors in the club, the blend added with the inclusion of big named players is a perfect fit for a team and there lies no reason why Arsenal should not win silverwares out of various competitions like FA Cup, Community Shield, Emirates Cup, League Cup this season and be a worthy title contender for the EPL and the Champions League. It’s time for Arsenal to accomplish big tasks and achieve big things like they did in the past. And to be honest, with the resources they have now, they have to win things on regular basis.