Football Special Report: How Arsenal Can Win the League this season
Arsenal are rated by the bookies as having even less of a chance to win the English Premier League than Manchester City. This is a perfect example of how hype is beginning to take precedence over the actual quality of the squads. City might have no rivals for its squad depth. However, if one were to compare the starting line-ups, City would find very few of their players would make the Arsenal first eleven (only the goalkeeper comes to mind.)
This piece will present all the reasons why Arsenal can be viable champions for the upcoming footballing season.
1) The Kids Will Eventually Grow Up
After the slow disintegration of "The Invincibles", Arsene Wenger's team has been one in transition. After all, it is no easy task to replace such luminaries as Patrick Viera, Thierry Henry, Robert Pires, Sol Campbell and Dennis Bergkamp. More than 5 years hence, the young players at Arsenal have come on in leaps in bounds. In at least 2 of the intervening years, they have led some sort of a title charge. The disappointments and hurt have given this squad some much needed experience on what it means to play tough and hold on to win. If Arsenal can keep the core of this group together (Cesc Fabregas does not leave,) there is no reason why this collective can finally come of age this season.
2) Fabregas May Want to Leave On A High
There is a pretty good chance; Fabregas may not leave this season. There is an even higher probability that he might leave next year if Arsenal do not win anything. Given, these set of future scenarios, Cesc will be doing all he can to propel Arsenal to a league victory before he says au revoir to his French mentor Wenger and Arsenal. Fresh off helping Spain win the World Cup, Fabregas will be raring to go (especially as he was not too fatigued by the World Cup, since most of his exertions were substitution appearances.)
3) Acquiring A Keeper
It is said that Arsenal lost the momentum of their title tilt last year because of their goal keeper. It has been a position of problem for a number of years for them. Manuel Almunia is a steady keeper but he is unable to provide the few extra points that Edwin Van der Sar and Petr Cech are able to provide their teams. In fact, Almunia was not even amongst the top ten goal keepers in the league last year. Frankly, for a club like Arsenal, that is completely unacceptable.
A number of keepers have been linked to Ashburton Grove including Australian veteran Mark Schwarzer and Italian international Federico Marchetti. Schwarzer may be getting on in years but it is thought his inclusion would allow younger keepers in the squad to bide for their time. Whichever keeper Arsene chooses, it will surely be an upgrade over who they have at the moment.
4) Defend Better
Laurent Koscielny is the latest defender to be drafted into the Arsenal squads. This, however, comes after the departures of William Gallas, Mikael Silvestre and Sol Campbell. The return of Johan Djourou from serious injury helps but if Wenger can draft in one tall defender, who can help at set-pieces, a huge question mark over their marking might be solved.
Arsenal have been weak on set-pieces in recent years. They have also been vulnerable by high balls played into the box. A tall, header of the ball will help massively in both these situations.
5) Stay Clear of Injuries
If there is one thing, that has kept Arsenal fans suffering, it has been the long injury lists. If Arsenal can keep key players fit and injury-proof, they will go a long way towards reclaiming the English League crown.
If key components like Robin Van Persie, Cesc Fabregas, Thomas Vermaelen, Andrei Arshavin and Alex Song can be kept fit, Arsenal will be near the top of the table come the end of the season.
If all these components can come together for Arsenal this season, there is no reason why the North London club could not become the champions of England.
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