Somalilandsun-The feeling at Arsenal right now is one of rejuvenation after the departure of Arsene Wenger, who had begun to cast a cloud too large over the Emirates the back pages were dominated by speculation on his future, rather than the performances of the team.
After a hammering triumph over Fulham recently, Gunners fans began to sing ‘we have our Arsenal back’ and that feeling of jubilation right through the fanbase and spreads through the squad.
Wenger made his presence felt in every department of the club, but now there feels greater freedom right from board level down to the pitch.
The Frenchman left the Emirates having brought two elite forwards to the club, Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. These two electric strikers have hit the ground running this term and are a major reason behind the Gunners’ push towards a title challenge.
With Lacazette the main man, playing as the centre-forward – Aubameyang shifted out to the wing – their pace and clinical finishing has run teams ragged and shows no signs of slowing down with the club rising through the football betting to become fourth title favourites.
Lacazette had a superb scoring record for Lyon in Ligue 1, banging in 100 goals in only 203 outings, while Aubameyang boasts 98 goals in 144 domestic games for Borussia Dortmund.
The north London outfit ended in a woeful sixth position last Premier League term, but this campaign wasn’t going to be a free hit for new boss Unai Emery, adding Uruguayan Lucas Torreira, goalkeeper Bernd Leno, veteran Greek centre-back Sokratis, Stephan Lichtsteiner on a free from Juventus and Matteo Guendouzi – all this summer.
New Arsenal boss Emery arrived in London with a terrific resume, having won three consecutive Europa League titles with Spanish side Sevilla and claimed a domestic treble last season at French-capital club PSG.
His ability to get his hands on silverware, and a lot of it, was one of the reasons Arsenal’s hierarchy pounced for Emery. The Spaniard has a reputation as a cup winner, a man with superb skill in knock-out ties, but also a history of giving young players a chance in the first team, all while playing a style of football fans enjoy.
<img src=”https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1863/44492824331_dc95fc7201.jpg” alt=”Lacazette Leno 1 180905MAFC”><script async src=”//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js” charset=”utf-8″></script><br><a href=”https://www.flickr.com/photos/stuart_photoafc/44492824331/” target=’_blank’>”Lacazette Leno 1 180905MAFC”</a> by <a xmlns:cc=’http://creativecommons.org/ns#’ rel=’cc:attributionURL’ property=’cc:attributionName’ “https://www.flickr.com/people/27453474@N02/”/’ target=’_blank’>Stuart MacFarlane</a> (<a rel=’license’ href= target=’_blank’> </a>)</div>
So, can Arsenal finally make a sustained title charge this term? If they do, it’ll be down to a shift in mentality, from the flaky Gunners sides of the later Wenger years to hardened winners that continue to win, week in week out.
Title-winning sides form a habit of winning, a ruthless machine that just keeps gathering three points, almost accelerating through the season. Seen at PSG, Emery is no stranger to winning league titles but that was with the overwhelmingly better team in the division. Arsenal are a different story, up against the gigantic budget of title favourites Manchester City.
Time will tell if Emery can sustain a title tilt with the Emirates outfit, but the future is certainly bright in north London after years of gloom.
