Will this be Arsene Wenger’s last season at Arsenal?
He is now into the final 12 months of his current contract but will the club offer him another? Would he sign it? Would the fans want him to?
After missing out on the title again last year, it’s now well over a decade since the Gunners won the biggest prize in English football, so can Wenger and his lads do it this year? Or will Gooners once again have to settle for the ‘trophy’ of finishing in fourth place?
We asked the finest minds in the JOE team for their take on how the season will pan out for Arsenal, and just to make things scientific, we also got the bods over at Football Manager to run a season-long simulation for us.
Dion Fanning
This may be the year. Not the year when Arsenal win something, but when their failures have an impact. The summer has been characteristically frustrating, but the reasoned explanations of Arsene Wenger for their failure to spend big are no longer enough. Arsenal’s rivals are spending and that is all that matters for some fans, especially when a big signing is needed.
Wenger enters the final year of his contract so it may be that change is coming. The collapse in the title race last season was disappointingly predictable, but Arsenal blew a stunning opportunity. Ultimately finishing above Spurs shouldn’t disguise how badly things went wrong. If they start poorly this season then it could get ugly again.
Wenger is a great manager, but it’s hard to escape the feeling that this extraordinary career will end in disappointment.
Predicted finish: 5th
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Carl Anka
I got in a real bad place a month go where I thought Arsenal could win it. There was no guarantee, City, Chelsea and United would kick on with their new managers, Spurs and Leicester wouldn’t be as good as last season – I really thought Arsenal were best placed to win the league this season. Then Walcott said he’s meant to be a winger and then Arsenal had their centre back injury crisis early and I remembered that Wenger is the closest thing to a false god in football.
Arsenal had a Type B season last year when they were top for a bit and then fell away. Narrative dictates they’ll now have a Type A one – where they languish at 7th for ages before making a late charge for 3rd as one of their strikers hits multiple hat tricks. Looking forward to them getting wellied by Madrid in Europe too.
Predicted finish: 3rd
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Tom Victor
If they didn’t look like winning the league last year, there’s nothing that suggests things will change this time around. They’ve bought well for a normal year, but this isn’t a normal year. Granit Xhaka and a fully pre-seasoned Mohamed Elneny should help Arsenal clamber into fourth place. Just.
If they add a striker (instead of trying to force a Joel Campbell-shaped peg into a round hole) they’ll be challenging for third.
Predicted finish: 4th
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Rob Burnett
Last year was THE chance – and they blew it. It was somewhat overshadowed because of the incredible story of Leicester City, but last season the way to the title opened up like the Red Sea for Arsenal, but instead of marching to glory Arsene Wenger and his men got washed away. And squeaking past Tottenham at the death to finish second cannot disguise the fact that they should be starting this season as reigning champions.
This time around Manchester United, Chelsea and Manchester City will all sort themselves out – and finish above Arsenal, who will have to hope that Spurs’ Champions League exertions mean they will once again stumble at the last and hand the Gunners fourth place in what will be Wenger’s final season.
Predicted finish: 4th
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Kevin Beirne
This summer has seen Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United upgrade manager (not to mention on the pitch), while both Liverpool and Spurs have had some extra time to gel over the off-season. Arsenal, meanwhile, have not really done a whole lot besides add a defensive midfielder and an inexperienced centre-back.
Arsene Wenger values stability over all else, but the problem with stability is that it often looks like stagnation. Grant Xhaka and Mohammed Elneny are the only outfield players Arsene Wenger has signed in the last 18 months who have any real chance of challenging for a starting berth right now. After Leicester City ran away with the title last year, everyone else has seen room to improve besides the Gunners.
Even more than ever, Arsenal need a new centre-back and a striker. Per Mertesacker and Danny Welbeck are out until Christmas (just in time to be “like new signings”), Gabriel will miss at least six weeks (which Arsenal fans know means he’ll probably be out until Christmas too) and even Theo Walcott has admitted that he’s not a striker.
Unless Chuba Akpom starts banging them in out of nowhere and Rob Holding proves to be the second coming of Tony Adams, it’s going to be a very long year for Arsenal and quite possibly the death of St Totteringham.
Predicted finish: 5th
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Simon Lloyd
When Danny Welbeck glanced home that stoppage time winner against Leicester in February, it seemed the stars were finally aligning for Arsenal. That was their big chance. They blew it.
This season will be the most competitive of Premier League seasons and, although the signing of Granit Xhaka looks to be a good bit of business, it’s hard to say that Arsenal’s squad is the strongest of those sides that should be in the mix for league success. Their supporters still crave another striker and the injuries they’ve picked up to defenders during preseason mean they’ll probably be a bit light at the back during the season’s opening weeks.
Unless things change in what’s left of the transfer window, it’s hard to see Arsenal winning the league. That said, they probably should have enough to scrape a place in the top four. They always do.
Predicted finish: 4th
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Football Manager
Predictably, it’s fourth again for the Gunners, 13 points off champions Manchester City – but crucially, six points ahead of fifth-placed Tottenham.
It’s another trophyless season for the club in fact, as Chelsea take the FA Cup and Liverpool win the League Cup.
Alexis Sanchez is the stand out performer – and top scorer for the club – netting 15 goals over the course of the season.
Will the Wenger era end not with a bang, but with a whimper?
Predicted finish: 4th
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