How will the Premier League's Top 5 close the gap on Manchester City?

#5 Arsenal

Leadership decisions to make:

Arsene Wenger, the heart, and soul of Arsenal FC over the past two decades has left the manager's seat after 22 years at the club. Arsenal has done exceedingly well to find a quality replacement in Unai Emery to take over the club.

Club captain Per Mertesacker has retired and moved into a coaching role at the club. Vice-captain Laurent Koscielny has suffered a horrific long-term injury that'll see him sidelined for the most of this year. Unai Emery will have to name a skipper to lead the Gunners revolution.

Players to retain

A horrendous campaign has seen Arsenal's players fall out of favor in the transfer market. Hence there are no major worries over retaining the players in the current squad.

Jack Wilshere's contract is yet to be renewed and he's free to talk to other clubs over a move away from his boyhood club. Jack Wilshere has been sending mixed messages so the club should do everything to tie down one of their longest serving players.

Positions to strengthen

Arsenal will have to make a complete overhaul of their current squad. The squad lacks quality in numerous areas across the pitch. Their defense has been in shambles for years now and the complete back-line might need to be revamped with new players.

1.Arsenal need to sign a new goalkeeper. Petr Cech is 36 now and made a series of mistakes this season and the composure that he displayed at Chelsea is now missing.

2.Laurent Koscielny will be out with a long-term injury. This leaves Shkodran Mustafi, Callum Chambers and Rob Holding as the only options in the middle of the defense. Mustafi had a horrendous campaign in which he made numerous errors. Though he is a good defenders, he's not good enough to be the first choice. Holding and Chambers are not good enough for a side that wants to challenge for the Premier League title. So Arsenal would probably need two good centre-backs.

3.Arsenal have discovered it in the harsh way that Granit Xhaka is not a holding midfielder. Mohamed Elneny, the man who played as the holding midfielder this season is an average player. So the Gunners would need an imposing holding midfielder in the mould of Patrick Viera to shield the defense.

4.Mesut Ozil and Henrikh Mkhitaryan are quality options in the attack midfield positions. But the Gunners lack a speedy winger capable of changing the game. Someone like Anthony Martial would be an ideal option.

Tactics

Arsenal has often been looked at as a one-dimensional team. Under Wenger, Arsenal played neat, crisp passes to get beyond the defenses. But when they were not allowed to play the way they wanted to, Arsenal went blank due to a lack of Plan B.

Unai Emery is a hard-working manager who concentrates a lot on the opposition while formulating his tactics. So, Arsenal will finally have a manager who will devise a strategy to counter the opposition when things go south. Emery is a manager who is good at organizing his team defensively, something which Wenger seemed incapable of in these last few years.

Another important thing needs to be addressed is the players' mentality. The Arsenal players lack the big-game mentality and most of these players fail to turn up against the big opponents, as they end up surrendering meekly. Arsenal need to perform better against the big sides if they are to challenge for major trophies.

Arsenal had an utterly dismal season away from the Emirates Stadium. They seemed incapable of winning games away from home and were the last of all the sides in the four divisions of English football to register a point away from home in 2018. Their form on their travels needs to be addressed immediately by Unai Emery.