Last season’s awful performance in the league made it clear to all that Arsenal needed a major overhaul of stars this summer, a task that has been placed in the hands of Unai Emery.
The Spaniard took over from Arsene Wenger as Gunners boss this summer, and since, has signed a number of stars who have definitely boosted his side’s overall quality.
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With Emery managing to bring in stars such as Bernd Leno, Lucas Torreira and Sokratis Papastathopoulous, a lot of Gunners fans seem to be optimistic going into this season.
With the club only managing a sixth-placed finish in the Premier League and no success in any of the cup competitions last season, it’ll be hard for Emery to do a worse job than Wenger did for the north London side.
Their new stars should definitely provide a boost to Emery’s chances of bettering Wenger’s performance last year.
So, we’ve thought about just how the Gunners could line-up under Emery for this season coming, as the club look to work themselves back into the Champions League.
Defence
You’d have to be blind to not see that both Petr Cech and David Ospina didn’t have the best years of their career for the Gunners last season.
Both failed to consistently perform for the club whenever given the chance, something that shouldn’t be a problem anymore thanks to the signing of Leno.
The German, who joined the club from Bayer Leverkusen for a fee of £22M as per the Evening Standard, will surely sort out the club’s problems that they’ve had between the sticks for a number of years now, and Emery would be mad not to start him this campaign.
Hector Bellerin, despite not being at his best last year, should still be set to hold down the position of right-back, as despite the club signing Stephan Liechtsteiner, the Spaniard should have enough in his locker to start over the Swiss.
With new signing Sokratis joining from Borussia Dortmund for a fee of £17.7M this summer as per the Guardian, Arsenal’s defence is set to be receive a major boost and be a whole lot better than it was last season.
Shkodran Mustafi should be starting over Laurent Koscielny, especially considering that Frenchman is currently out with an injury.
The left-back area may be a tricky one for Emery, as with the club signing youngster Matteo Guendouzi for £7M as per ESPN this summer, the Spaniard is set to be spoilt for options in that position.
Although Monreal was one of the club’s best players last season, we could be seeing Guendouzi claim a few starts in the lesser competitions such as the League Cup and FA Cup this season, as well as the group stages of the Europa League.
Midfield
With Uruguayan international Lucas Torreira joining from Sampdoria in a deal worth £26.5M (according to the Guardian), the Gunners may finally have the solid defensive midfielder their side’s been crying out for for years.
Torreira impressed hugely at this summer’s World Cup, with the player’s displays helping Uruguay reach the Quarter Finals, where they eventually lost to France.
With Aaron Ramsey picking up his form towards the end of last season, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Welshman partner Torreira in the centre of the park this season, although we feel Granit Xhaka may have something to say about that…
Henrikh Mkhitaryan proved to be a shrewd signing by the Gunners last season, and his performances out-wide for them should see him claim a spot on the right-wing for the north London side.
With Mesut Ozil being the club’s only true out-and-out central attacking midfielder, we should see the German international start just behind the striker under Emery.
And Nigerian Alex Iwobi should have enough in him to claim a starting role on the left-hand side of Arsenal’s midfield this season, with there being no real other contenders for the player to fend off.
Forwards
With both Alexander Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang both signing for the club last season, Emery is set to be spoilt for choice going forward this season.
The Gabonese international’s fine end to the season last year should see him start over Lacazette, however don’t expect the Frenchman to not get his fair share of stars at the Emirates this campaign.
Lacazette has struggled somewhat to consistently find the net for the Gunners since his arrival something that won’t help his case to claim a spot over Aubameyang this year.
Arsenal’s new-look line-up could be a force next season, with some added solidity at the back being the key part of their side.
The Gunners’ midfield absolutely oozes creativity and class, something that their forwards will surely be delighted with.