Arsenal ran Manchester City to the final day of the Premier League season title race, but the Gunners will need to reinforce in two main areas if they are to ultimately topple Pep Guardiola's hegemony.
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This past English top-flight campaign was a much closer-contested affair than the 2022/23 iteration, because while the Citizens were able to capture their record-breaking fourth successive title, they only did it by two points.
Liverpool returned to the title race picture, but dropped points away to Manchester United, Crystal Palace and Merseyside neighbours Everton during the run-in, ultimately seeing them drop out of championship contention earlier than many expected.
It left Arsenal as the sole opposition to rival City for their throne and having faltered much earlier, and in even more spectacular fashion the season before, the north Londoners pushed the Mancunians until the final day of the season this time around. Despite closing the gap in terms of points tally at the end of this past season compared to the previous, Mikel Arteta was still unable to thwart his former employers and he will have to delve into the transfer market once again to strengthen his side if he is to finally be successful.
There are two main areas where the San Sebastian native needs to reinforce, and that is in the defensive midfield and striker positions. One may be reading this and wondering how the 13-time English champions need to get a new holding midfielder having just broken their club transfer record to acquire the services of Declan Rice.
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The London native was worth every penny of the €116.6 million (R2.3 billion) the club spent in order to land his services and his performances were consistently elite, but compared to his City rival Rodri, he pales in comparison at a fundamental level. The 25-year-old did not seem as comfortable collecting the ball off his centre-halfs during the first phase of attack compared to his Spanish counterpart, often necessitating Martin Odegaard to drop deeper to avail a shorter pass when Rice received the ball. It is why, during the second half of the campaign, Arteta played Jorginho and Thomas Partey once the Ghanaian got fit.
Possible defensive midfielder acquisition:
While he is one of the best defensive midfielders in the world, he is perhaps better suited playing further forward in Arsenal's system, occasionally tracking back, as opposed to screening the back four for the entire game. The Black Stars international seems to have his best days behind him, so there is every possibility that the EPL giants look to bring in a new holding midfielder when the transfer market reopens.
A less pressing issue is that of a striker. Kai Havertz's emergence as a capable goalscorer at the highest level has perhaps alleviated the pressure to recruit an out-and-out striker, but outcomes at the top level are defined by fine margins and perhaps they would be better suited utilising a player that is more instinctive in front of goal.
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Arsenal's goals are littered throughout the team, with the likes of Leandro Trossard, Bukayo Saka and Odegaard having all chipped in with healthy contributions, but City also have that as well as a world-class finisher in Erling Haaland. While forwards such as the Norwegian are almost non-existent, there are those who can make the difference for the Gunners at decisive moments in tight situations.
Possible striker acquisition:
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