Arsenal are nowhere near the level of City. Don’t be fooled by transfers
Grigory Telingater August 6, 2023, 11:00 am Moscow time Audio version: Your browser does not support the audio element.
Before the Super Bowl game, it’s time to shake off the charm of last season.
Today in England a new season begins. As usual, it starts with the Super Bowl: the national champion against the cup winner. As this time in both cases there was only one winner (Manchester City), the rival was the second team of the Premier League (Arsenal). These two clubs are going through a very unique moment in recent times.
City won the Champions League for the first time in history. A trophy the team has been obsessed with since the sheikhs’ takeover of the team. That is, since 2008. And here the big question is: how will this affect the team’s motivation? Still, she now objectively won everything.
“Manchester City”
Photo: Nigel Frances/Getty Images
“Arsenal” is reborn after a rather difficult period without trophies. Two years ago, the team even ran out of European Cups, but now the club seems to be coming back to life after hibernation. We managed to hold on, not fire the coach on emotions, and in the last season Arsenal even led the way to the 34th round.
Another point that inspires the fans of this team are the signings. Of the important footballers, only Granit Xhaka left Arsenal. At the same time, they immediately took Declan Rice (117 million euros), Kai Havertz (75 million euros) and Yurrien Timber (40 million euros). It is obvious that the team has become stronger after such permutations. Although it is not entirely clear how exactly the players will be located.
newcomers to the arsenal
Photo: Visionhaus/Getty Images
With Rice, everything is more or less simple: he plays as a defensive midfielder, but Havertz can play almost everywhere in midfield and attack. Yes, and Timber at Ajax played more on the right, but it seems that he is also seen as a central defender (he also has that experience). In addition, the weak point at the end of the season was the position of the central defender after Salib’s injury.
There was a lot of talk about the options for Arteta here:
Arsenal have the most expensive squad in the world. How to position newcomers and kick City off the throne?
And yet, even with the factors indicated, it is extremely doubtful to put modern Arsenal and City on a par. The stable performance of the English champions is based on a stable line-up. That’s why it’s played. City also have strange acquisitions (hello Calvin Phillips), but they remain accurate. In this regard, the opponent’s transfers may change little. They don’t even always benefit the buyer. There are many examples, even within London.
Try not to be confused with newbies:
16 players have already left Chelsea. Who was taken instead and what was Pochettino up to?
And you also have to admit that Arsenal were lucky in many ways to score so many points last season. Winning goals in the 93rd minute with Villa or in the 97th minute with Bournemouth looked great emotionally, but it was hard to see the margin of safety in places. If you look at xPoints, then Arsenal have a powerful outperformer – they were over 11.47 points (underStat data).
Now in England there is no one who is up to City. Yes, Arsenal really claimed the title, but at the same time they played their best, getting games out with courage. At this time, Josep Guardiola’s team didn’t even start with all their might to win the title. The coach took care of the composition for another tournament. More or less everyone wants intrigue in the Premier League, but it remains illusory.
Also, Arsenal’s season has already started with new injuries. Jesús was out for a few weeks due to the recurrence of an old injury. And it seems that there is someone to replace (Haverts, Nketia and even Trossard), but Arsenal temporarily lost the main option in attack. On the other hand, if Arsenal have a chance to compete with City, it’s in the FA Super Cup. Anything can happen in 90 minutes, but it seems impossible to compete in the long run.
Yes, yes, Guardiol now plays for Guardiola’s team:
City took over the sixth center-back for 90 million euros! What is the point of this?
