Arsenal can be very content with their start to the season – and that satisfaction stems from their work during the summer in the transfer window.
While the 3-1 defeat at Old Trafford has taken the sheen off Arsenal ’s previously perfect beginning to the Premier League campaign, the optimism remains. The Gunners have invested in their squad and the improvements are there for all to see.
As many pundits and sniping voices have pointed out, any praise of Mikel Arteta’s side has to come with the caveat that, Manchester United aside, they haven’t faced many top-tier opponents. They have also only kept two clean sheets during their victorious start to the campaign.
Those points are valid. But so are ones of praise. Arsenal’s early-season strength has been built upon the work of technical director Edu in the transfer window. The Brazilian has delivered exactly what the doctor ordered – or, rather, what Jamie Carragher ordered.
"Arsenal need to get fourth and if we liken it to what [Jurgen] Klopp did at Liverpool, Arsenal are at the stage where they haven't got a [Cristiano] Ronaldo, they haven’t got a [Harry] Kane,” Carragher said in March.
"Their next two or three signings have to be an Alisson or a [Virgil] van Dijk. To take them from sort of challenging for the top four to making that jump where you're competing with City, Liverpool and Chelsea."
Former Aston Villa striker Gabby Agbonlahor made a similar point midway through the summer window. “For Arsenal it’s a big statement signing Gabriel Jesus, but still, they need more work,” he said on talkSPORT. “These teams know that they need to keep improving their squad because it’s going to get harder and harder to challenge for the top four. Arsenal don’t want to be cut adrift.”
Jesus is, by all accounts, a premium statement signing from Arsenal. They forked out £45million to land him from Manchester City and had to fight off serious competition from rivals, who in many cases, could offer more. Thomas Tuchel petitioned Chelsea’s owners to move for the striker, but didn’t get his man.
The 25-year-old has picked up three goals and three assists in six Premier League games so far and looks the perfect fit for Arteta’s style of play. Arsenal also signed Oleksandr Zinchenko, who strengthens a left-back slot which has been frequently been left vacant due to Kieran Tierney’s injury problems, as well as exciting talent Marquinhos, playmaker Fabio Vieira, who is now fit to feature, and second-choice goalkeeper Matt Turner.
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When you throw William Saliba into the mix you have ticked all the boxes outlined above by the two pundits – and you see where Arteta was coming from with his confident pre-season prediction.
“We are ready to go to a different level, and I am convinced of that. What the other teams are doing is obvious, and others had already a much a stronger squad than we had, and they still recruited four or five, or some of them, seven players,” Arteta said. “This is not going to get any easier, so we can just focus on what we are trying to do, what we can do, because we cannot do everything at the same time, and we are confident that we're going to be able to do it.”
It is still early days, and Arsenal have made a habit out of false dawns, but Arteta is certainly on the right track to backing up his pledge.
