3 Reasons why Arsenal are serious contenders for Premier League 2018-19

In its 132 years of existence, Arsenal have won 13 League titles, a record 13 FA Cups, two League Cups and 15 FA Community Shields. Arsenal had been one of the best teams in the world in the early 2000s.

However, Arsenal have been a disappointment in the last few years under the leadership of ex-manager Arsene Wenger. He himself agreed that he came close to signing some of the best players in the world like Messi, Ronaldo, Zlatan, Rafel Varane, Pogba, Claude Makelele, Didier Drogba to name some, but wasn't able to do so.

Arsenal needed big and strong defensive players, but he kept signing midfielders which were not required. Wenger rested Andrei Arshavin in 2009 FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea, which was not a good idea since Arshavin was one of the best players of that time.

Wenger didn't even replace Thomas Vermalean, who was one of the key defenders in Arsenal's squad in the early 2010's. Wenger did not play Alex Oxlade Chamberlain in centre midfield which was his biggest mistake when he was at Arsenal. Chamberlain left Arsenal for Liverpool, where he played in his preferred position, helping Liverpool to do wonders.

Wenger wasn't able to determine what was wrong with his team and did not sign defensive players who are very important for the Premier League given the physicality of the league.

Even though Arsene Wenger has been the best manager in Arsenal's history, the club thoroughly required some change that would improve their chances of winning the Premier League title.

Wenger left the club in 2018 and Emery was appointed as the new Arsenal manager which can prove to be vital for the club.

Here are three key reasons that can help Arsenal win the Premier League:

#1 Appointment of manager with lots of experience and different style of play

Unai Emery and his supporting staff at Arsenal XI v Crawley Town XI: Pre-Season Friendly

Unai Emery is a Spanish football manager appointed by Arsenal in 2018. Emery had modest playing career spending it mostly in Segunda División, the second tier of Spanish League Football system. He began his career at Lorca Deportiva CF, where he achieved promotion into Segunda División in his first season. He retired from Lorca Deportiva CF at just the age of 32 after only a single season in Segunda Division B.

Unai Emery has never looked back after starting his managerial career at Lorca Deportive after guiding them to the second division of Spanish football for the first time in club' history. He even guided Almeria to LaLiga in his four years at the club for the first time since the existence of the club.

He became known to the world when he was appointed by Sevilla as its head coach and helped Sevilla win three consecutive Europa League, given the toughness of the competition. He was even successful at PSG, winning all four domestic trophies in 2017-2018.

Of the four Spanish clubs, he has managed, none of them was performing well at the time he joined them. Despite the clubs not doing well, he provided the respective clubs' fans with a reason to rejoice.

The main reason Arsenal has not won a single Premier League Trophy since 2005, was the lack of change in a manager who can implement different ideas.

Unai Emery usually favours the 4-2-3-1 formation with a touch of 4-3-3 to it. Great flexibility in the midfield is one of the characteristics of his teams. Ever since his time at Valencia, Emery has been using a somewhat similar formation. Unai Emery likes to press high when opponents are in attacking third.

When asked about what will be important, Emery said: "Possession of the ball and pressing when you don't have the ball.".

He is a tactical manager, and with the amount of experience he has, he will surely help Arsenal reach new heights. He has started making Arsenal players work hard to achieve for what he was appointed.

Even Arsenal hope that Emery brings Arsenal back to the level they were in the 90's and early 00's.

#2 Signings of young and experienced players

Unai Emery has achieved the task of implementing a club overhaul by making signings of excellent players. Arsenal have completed the signing of outstanding players, which include Goalkeeper, Defenders, and Midfielders.

Unai Emery signed Bernd Leno, who is just 26 years which is a young age given the number of staggering qualities he has. Bernd Leno is a German footballer, who plays as Goalkeeper starting his career at VfB Stuttgart in 2011. He was then loaned to Bayer Leverkusen in August 2011, acquiring a permanent transfer to Leverkusen until 2018. The Premier League club announced in June 2018 that Leno has signed on a five-year deal for €25 million.

Bernd Leno is very good at saving penalties which will prove to be important in knockout stages. He is so dedicated to football that he even played with a broken nose in the Champions League last-16 against Diego Simeone's Atletico Madrid, which is indeed courageous since Atletico Madrid is one of the most physical teams of the world.

Another great signing by Arsenal is centre-back Sokratis and Defensive midfielder Lucas Torreira from Borussia Dortmund and Sampdoria for €16 million and €30 million. The central area where Arsenal needed to improve in was in the defensive third, which they have already achieved. They have even signed Mattéo Guendouzi (€8 million) and Stephan Lichtsteiner (Free Transfer) from FC Lorient and Juventus respectively.

Torreira (22) and Guendouzi (19) are very young which can help Arsenal to have good players for more amount of time. Arsenal have signed players who are very young as well as useful in their respected positions. The experienced players like Sokratis and Lichtsteiner will undoubtedly provide the right amount of guidance that can nurture a large number of qualities in young and ambitious Arsenal players.

If rumours are proven to be true of Ousmane Dembele joining Arsenal, it would be challenging for other Premier League teams to compete with Arsenal for the title.

#3 Arsenal have some of the best players in the world

Enter c — Arsenal's kit for the 2018-19 season

Arsenal had one of the best squads in Premier League last season. They have midfielders like Mesut Ozil, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Aaron Ramsey and Alex Iwobi. Mesut Ozil is often considered as one of the best midfielders of all time. Though Mesut Ozil doesn't have pace as compared to other midfielders, he is often regarded as a most intelligent player in football.

Arsene Wenger did not utilize his squad's strength, which was the main reason why Arsenal was not able to make an impact in the League as expected. Arsenal have some of the best players in attacking position which include Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette, and Lucas Perez. Aubemeyang is considered among the fastest players in world football. Aubameyang scored ten goals and four assists in just 12 appearances in Premier League last season after signing for Arsenal in January 2018.

Now with the appointment of a tactically sound manager like Emery, Arsenal have all the ingredients to reach new heights.

Edited by Sudeshna Banerjee