da bet7k： It has now been 12 long years since Arsenal were England’s premier side.
da pinnacle： Years of mediocre campaigns and unpredictable performances have left fans with a bitter taste in their mouths. Nonetheless, Arsenal can now lay claim to holding their best squad of players since the infamous ‘Invincible’ team of 2004.
The Gunners are currently five points behind leaders Manchester City in the title race, but travel away to newly-promoted Burnley this weekend with the Gunners in red-hot form. The current squad is the best that Arsene Wenger has had at his disposal since their last title-winning side 12 years-ago and should they maintain their impressive start to the season, we may see the title return to Arsenal for a 14th time.
After years of scrutiny from the Arsenal faithful, Wenger finally flashed the cash this summer and reinforced Arsenal’s squad in the hope of improving on their second place finish last season. The signing of Granit Xhaka finally occurred more than five years after it should have.
Xhaka has added the necessary steel to a midfield that has been regularly overrun by teams more physical than Arsenal. Now with the Swiss international in the fold, Arsenal can now compete physically at fixtures like West Brom away when they have spent a number of years struggling to cope with intense, physical and demanding style’s of play.
Behind every great Arsenal side has been a steelier centre-back pairing and Wenger can now lay claim to one with Koscielny and Mustafi at the heart of the back-four. After a summer of pursing the German international, Arsenal paid Valencia £35million for the former Everton defender as they looked to secure a credible central partnership – the likes of which has not been seen at the club since Sol Campbell and Kolo Toure lined up weekly for the Gunners.
Since then, Philippe Senderos and Sebastian Squillaci are just some of the names who were expected to replace the infamous duo.
During the baron years, the over-reliance on individuals had Arsenal coming up-short on a number of occasions. Rewind to 07/08, Arsenal was sitting pretty at the summit of the Premier League in February. Eduardo’s leg-break at Birmingham resulted in Wenger relying heavily on Emmanuel Adebayor and Cesc Fabregas, but Arsenal were unable to mount a considerable title challenge.
Even more worryingly; where would Arsenal have finished in 12/2013 without the goals of talisman Robin Van Persie? The Gunners remarkably managed to finish 3rd when the squad was undoubtedly Arsene Wenger’s worst ever side. In comparison, Wenger can lay claim to a talent-filled squad full of world-class performers – some of whom would play for any side in world football.
Some of these players have played for Europe’s top clubs. Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil joined Arsenal from Barcelona and Real Madrid respectively and are certainly no strangers to success. More decisively, Petr Cech now lays claim to the number one jersey at the club and has become a symbol of this new Arsenal under Wenger. Manuel Almunia and Wojciech Szczesny previously stood at heart of the Arsenal side, neither of whom capable of filling the major void left by Jens Lehmann.
Cech now consistently plays alongside a regular Arsenal back-four in Bellerin, Koscielny, Mustafi and Monreal. All Gunners fans will be aware that any of their title winning side’s all maintained a formidable defensive unit with world-class players in attack, and that’s certainly what Wenger has assembled.
It must be noted that it’s not just security at the back or flair in attack that makes this Arsenal side different, the chemistry and balance in this team has increased a notch or three in the past twelve months. Both on and off the field relationships have been established, which has only benefited Arsenal in pursuit of success.
Before this assembly, too many players became too friendly and passive with nobody capable of grilling a team-mate or pulling them through rougher times but with this squad, a number of players have achieved enough past success to be aware of when team-mates need a friend and an enemy. Grit and steel they call it, and Arsenal certainly have that in abundance.
The biggest missing factor in Wenger’s sides since the 2005 FA Cup final has been the ever-appearing lack of leadership. Once Sol Campbell and Thierry Henry left in 2006 and 2007 respectively, Arsenal have not had a major figure in their squad to lead them to success when necessary. Unusually, Arsenal have a squad filled with leaders and strong personalities in Laurent Koscielny, Per Mertesacker, Granit Xhaka and Per Cech – all of whom have captained teams at some stage of their career.
It’s clear this Arsenal team has turned a corner in comparison to previous campaigns. For a number of reasons, fans can finally keep their optimism in-check and truly believe that they could achieve something successful between now and May.
They may not be the best team in the Premier League, but as long as Arsenal can remain in contention of success then who knows what could be achieved after a number of years in the wilderness.