Our Arsenal fans here in the Transfer Tavern will be hoping to secure Champions League football again this season as the race for the places heats up.

Arsene Wenger has finally got over the Alexis Sanchez fiasco and can look forward to what many of the local Gunners in the pub will be hoping is an enjoyable second half of the season. The Gunners, over the years, have stagnated into a fourth-place team, and last year ended up missing out on Champions League football for the first time on Wenger’s reign.

Indeed, our regulars do feel though Arsenal should have pushed more in January to secure some much-needed signings, there’s a couple of areas the Gunners need to build on and that wasn’t fully addressed in the window.

With five teams all vying for the remaining three places, an essential incoming transfer can be the difference come to the end of the season, with that in mind, our landlord takes a look at two players Wenger should have tried to capture…

Jonny Evans

Having long been linked with a move to the Emirates, Evans could have been the difference maker to the Arsenal spine which is in much need of work. Arsenal have always had a glut of creative talent in the centre of the park, but at the back is the part of the team that breaks down.

Wenger, by not dealing with the defensive side of things may have shot himself in the foot, and when a player with Evans’ quality comes along, it would be a silly move not to snap the chance up.

Wilfred Ndidi

The Leicester City man is somewhat of a hidden gem in the Premier League and a kind of player that Arsenal desperately need. Ndidi is still only young but he possesses the ability to break down the play and look for the easy pass in order for his team to surge forward.

In a similar mould to his ex-teammate N’Golo Kante, Ndidi can be the reinforcement at the back to protect the defence and link it in with the creative players in the midfield.