Rival fans will naturally claim it is only pre-season but in terms of morale in the camp, Arsenal got their preparations for the 2015/16 season off to a perfect start, claiming the Barclays Asia Trophy with a 3-1 victory over Everton in the final yesterday in Singapore.
Fielding a strong team, Arsene Wenger currently has most players fit right now and Gunners fans know that if he can keep them that way for the majority of the campaign, they’ll stand much more of a chance of lifting the biggest trophy of them all – the Premier League title.
While keeping players fit is key, so too are signings and after the noteworthy arrival of Petr Cech from Chelsea, Arsenal fans are pleading with Arsene Wenger to pull off at least one more marquee swoop for the likes of Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema or Lyon’s Alexandre Lacazette.
With Olivier Giroud representing a good striker, it’s a great 30 goals plus striker that Arsenal fans really crave and on the face of it, were they to capture one of the aforementioned pair, it could be the latest jigsaw piece in the puzzle for the Gunners to complete.
We’ve seen Arsenal miss out on the likes of Arturo Vidal, Morgan Schneiderlin and Geoffrey Kondogbia so far this summer but with the Gunners’ midfield arguably the strongest in the Premier League, it’s in the attack where reinforcements are most sought-after.
So while Arsene scours the market, we’ve devised what we believe to be Arsenal’s strongest eleven on paper heading into the new campaign.
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Click on the image below to reveal what we believe to be Arsenal’s strongest XI for this season.
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Petr Cech
Described as a game changing signing in most quarters, Arsenal fans got their first glimpse of Petr Cech in an Arsenal shirt yesterday as the Czech Republic put in a good debut performance for the Gunners.
In truth, Arsenal were all over Everton for large periods in Singapore but when the former Chelsea stopper was called upon, namely following a Luke Garbutt free kick in the first half, he pulled off a fantastic stop to excite Gooners watching on.
This has been the problem for Arsenal in recent seasons. Remember the smash and grab victory Swansea City secured at Emirates Stadium last season; the Gunners dominated the whole game but couldn’t score, only to be caught on the counter.
David Ospina was the man between the sticks that night but more often than not, it has been Wojciech Szczesny who has suffered from multiple lapses in concentration.
Arsenal fans look forward to these lapses being eradicated nearly entirely under the professionalism of Cech this season.
Hector Bellerin
When Arsenal signed Mathieu Debuchy from Newcastle United last summer, not to mention Calum Chambers from Southampton, Gooners couldn’t have imagined that Arsene Wenger would be calling on Hector Bellerin so readily in the second part of 2014/15.
But luckily enough for the Spanish youngster, Debuchy succumbed to a prolonged spell on the sidelines and after a dodgy debut appearance against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League, Bellerin knuckled down and so much so that most Gunners fans would have him in their starting eleven at present.
Pacey, sensible and a threat with his crossing ability, Bellerin was a refreshing success story of the 2014/15 campaign and also proved that he has a few goals in his locker, having scored against both Aston Villa and Liverpool.
Per Mertesacker
Often taken to the cleaners by both Arsenal fans and pundits alike following a bad performance, it’s often forgotten that Per Mertesacker is usually quite consistent.
The former German international can be shown up on his day but it was his work in the 2013/14 season that ultimately proved the reason he remains a part of Arsene Wenger’s back line.
Struggling against pace of course, the former Werder Bremen defender reads the game better than most to make up for his lack of mobility and while Gabriel Paulista looks promising, Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny have enjoyed a relatively successful partnership so far and we can’t see Arsene Wenger disrupting it just yet.
Mertesacker also boasts leadership traits and seems to have taken on the Emmanuel Eboue role as joker around the Arsenal camp which is great in terms of team morale.
Laurent Koscielny
Wincing when they saw Laurent Koscileny linked with a transfer to Real Madrid earlier this summer, this marks the importance placed upon the Frenchman’s head at Emirates Stadium.
One of Arsene Wenger’s shrewdest purchases in his time at the club, Koscielny has steadily grown into one of the best centre backs in the Premier League, boasting bite in the challenge, not to mention good recovery pace.
Koscielny also brings the best out of Per Mertesacker to boot and while he experienced a shaky away day at Tottenham last term, Koscielny is usually a model of consistency in this Arsenal team.
Nacho Monreal
There were reports originating from Spain this past week that claimed Athletic Bilbao were closing in on the signature of Nacho Monreal and the fact Arsenal fans are breathing a sigh of relief that the news has died down says it all about his new found worth to the team.
Monreal completed a remarkable turnaround last season, going from a scapegoat emergency centre half to an indispensable member of the team that disloged Kieran Gibbs from the starting line-up at left back later in the season.
Now looking a threat when raiding up the left flank, Monreal is a now changed man having gone from deadwood status to an immediate starting eleven selection.
Francis Coquelin
We’ve already talked about Hector Bellerin being one of the refreshing success stories of 2014/15 but what about this man?
Coquelin more than satisfied the deadwood category when he was loaned out to Charlton Athletic midway last season but after an injury crisis, he was recalled to Emirates Stadium and the rest is history.
After initially impressing back in Arsenal’s first team, Coquelin was understandably praised for thriving in the defensive midfield role but at this stage, Gooners were still cautious.
However, the Frenchman maintained his fantastic form all the way until the end of the season ending it in superb fashion, lifting the FA Cup at Wembley.
Breaking up the play with great dynamism, Arsenal fans have been crying out for this kind of midfielder for years at Emirates Stadium.
They’ll just hope they don’t have to rely on Mikel Arteta and Mathieu Flamini so much this season.
Santi Cazorla
When he was signed from Malaga back in 2012, everybody knew that Santi Cazorla was a fantastic signing but the Spaniard took his form to a new level in the 2014/15 season.
Manchester City away stands out as Cazorla’s best performance last season and only yesterday, we again saw Cazorla thriving in his new found defensive midfield role against Everton in the Barclays Asia Trophy Final.
Easily able to dictate the pace of a game, Arsene Wenger has now realised the merit in deploying his Spanish star far deeper than normal.
He’ll again prove a vital cog in Arsenal’s starting eleven this time around.
Aaron Ramsey
Arsenal fans don’t like Aaron Ramsey playing on the right and nor does the player but with so much midfield talent knocking around Emirates Stadium at present, the Welshman finds himself in this position in our strongest eleven.
Given the wonderful talent Mesut Ozil is, playing him in his favoured number 10 role is a must so Ramsey takes the right midfield berth and in truth, while he doesn’t boast the pace for the flanks, not every game he played here was a disaster – just look at Burnley away (image above) where he scored last season.
Now one Arsenal’s most important players having reached uncharted status after scoring the goal against Hull City in the 2013/14 FA Cup Final that effectively ended all those years of hurt and anguish, Ramsey is one of Arsenal’s go-to players.
With the Coquelin and Cazorla combo looking excellent towards the second half of last season, Ramsey might have to get used to playing on the right for a little while yet when everybody is fit.
Mesut Ozil
Having taken a little while to get going and that’s putting it mildly for Arsenal fans, it was the second half of last season in which Mesut Ozil embarked on an upward curve in his Gunners career.
Finally nailing down a position in his favoured number 10 role in Arsene Wenger’s starting eleven, we saw the best of the German international once again.
With his assisting abilities frightening at times, Ozil performed fantastically in the Gunners’ 4-1 demolition of Liverpool especially.
While you won’t get break-neck runs from the German or tracking back abilities so often, what you do get his pin-point precision passes and defence splitting through balls.
Alexis Sanchez
With each passing month, we seem to run out of superlatives for Arsenal’s mercurial talent that is Alexis Sanchez.
While he was always considered a star of the game at Barcelona, he has scaled new heights in becoming the main man at Arsenal and it seems last summer’s switch has been a wise one in his professional career.
Only beaten by Chelsea’s Eden Hazard in the PFA Player of the Year stakes last term, Alexis Sanchez struck 25 goals in all competitions in his debut season in England – not bad sir.
While the Chilean boasts all of the ability in the world, it’s as if he doesn’t know it with his sheer hard work and determination making him into what many consider to be the complete footballer.
A world beater on his day, Alexis is often parallel with the Emirates Stadium turf, such is his speed when he changes direction while losing opposition defenders for fun.
Olivier Giroud
Olivier Giroud continues to split opinions at Arsenal with some Gooners claiming they’re good enough to win the league with the Frenchman up top and others claiming these Arsenal fans should check themselves into hospital!
Boasting 41 goals in 97 Premier League appearances to date, this record is not bad by any stretch of the imagination but given the strikers Arsenal fans have come accustomed to watching in previous years, namely Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp, it was always going to be hard for Giroud to emulate such icons of the game.
His pretty boy image doesn’t seem to do him any favours with a section of Arsenal fans who crave a more lethal marksman and somebody in the mould of Karim Benzema whom they may move for late on in the window.
While Arsenal fans continue to be split on Giroud’s worth to the team, most Gunners fans agree than another forward has to be brought in with Danny Welbeck and Chuba Akpom representing the choices behind him although Alexis and Theo Walcott can fulfil the role too.
