Premier League 2018/19: Positions the Big 6 need to strengthen in January

#5 Arsenal: Central Defender

Brighton's Lewis Dunk could help to shore up Arsenal's defence

Arsenal have undoubtedly been resurgent under Unai Emery thus far in 2018/19; they’re currently on an unbeaten streak of 14 Premier League games and defeated their bitter rivals Tottenham in the North London derby, and strikers Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette have both been in excellent form. However, not everything is as rosy as it seems at the Emirates right now.

Arsenal have conceded 20 goals thus far – more than any of the other teams in the current top 5 and also more than 7th place Everton and 10th place Wolves. That’s largely been down to the fact that the centre of their defence still doesn’t seem quite settled and fully up-to-scratch.

Emery has used a combination of Shkodran Mustafi, Rob Holding and Sokratis at the back thus far and while they’ve performed decently at times, none of them really display the same kind of power that say, Virgil Van Dijk or Aymeric Laporte does. Worse still, Holding has now been ruled out for the rest of the season with a serious knee injury – leaving the Gunners with even fewer options.

It’s a proven fact that a title challenge is often built on a solid defense and so Arsenal should probably leave nothing to chance when it comes to this position, but the Gunners still operate on a relatively tight budget – so making a move for someone like Lewis Dunk at Brighton – who have only conceded 22 goals despite sitting in 13th place – might make sense in order to shore things up.