Arsenal’s Summer Clearout

As the season ends and the transfer wind creaks opens, reports on player movement’s sky rocket. It seems every player is linked somewhere else regardless of when they signed and the season they’ve had. For Arsenal fans 2015/16 was an ultimately disappointing season. A second place finish is our highest in over a decade but most fans feel we should have won the title as our main rivals faltered. So looking on to 2016/17 which players should move on and make way for fresh new talent to improve the side?

Arsenal v Bayern Munich – The Debrief

A poor start to the campaign, bottom of the group and backs against the wall, a big performance was needed to salvage our Champions League season, and what a performance it was. Against one of the best and most in form teams in the world we were able to adapt our style, get stuck in, and secure the result we needed. It’s hard to come up with any negatives from that performance; the team did exactly what they had to. The European and domestic momentum can really help get us in a good position by Christmas.

Arsenal v Crystal Palace – Ozil, Bellerin and Ramsey

As the old saying goes ‘it’s the three points that count’ and that couldn’t be truer when describing Arsenal’s result against Crystal Palace on Sunday. The team played well against an improving Palace side and although the performance was significantly better than last week, Arsenal stumbled over the line to secure the win. There were plenty of chances, but we were reliant on an own goal for our first win of the season. So let’s take a look at the key themes of matchday two – Ozil’s match winning performance, the return of Bellerin, and where Ramsey’s future in the side lies.

Three key themes from Arsenal v West Ham

So the Premier League season has kicked off, and sitting bottom of the table after week one was not quite how fans envisaged things to go. On the plus side though, there’s still 37 games to go and plenty of time for us to learn from our mistakes. Here’s a look at the key themes from our opening fixture.

Three players, one spot – who should be our first choice right back?

With three very good right backs in the squad there is a tough decision to make as to who should be first choice, second choice and who should be sent away. Strong reports are linking Carl Jenkinson with an imminent return to West Ham for another season long loan spell. The Englishman has had a mixed time at Arsenal but is that the right decision? Does it make more sense to give Hector Bellerin a loan spell as a first choice right back, or should the young talent be Arsenal’s first choice? And where does all this leave fit again Debuchy? The stats below help to give a meaningful comparison.

Arsenal v Chelsea – what the stats say about our performance

A nil-nil draw against the team who are set to be champions. Not a bad result, but I can’t help thinking what could have been. This was meant to be the game. The one where Wenger finally triumphed over Mourinho. Chelsea had the title wrapped up before the match (realistically) whilst we were still fighting for second; we were on an eight game winning streak in the league; we were at the Emirates, and the injury problems that had plagued us in the past had finally eased up. In fact we had close to a full complement of players, whilst they couldn’t even field a striker in their starting XI. So why couldn’t we do it? Where did it go wrong?