We are two games into the new Premier League season and teams are getting to know where they stand and what they need to improve on. It’s still early days but Manchester City looks like they won’t be relinquishing their crown this season, though Liverpool who are bookies second favorite will hope they can finally end their 28 years wait for a premier league title. However, for the sake of this article, we will be focusing on Arsenal who after 22 years are starting life without Wenger. Unai Emery the man who has been charged to lead Arsenal back to their glory days was given a reality check in his first two premier league games, though games against City and Chelsea are not games you wish to start with as a new manager in the premier league. In the game against Manchester City, it was same old Arsenal as they were all over the place and totally dominated by Manchester City, though Emery could say there is probably no team that City won’t dominate in the Premier league presently. Nevertheless, Emery complicated things by trying to implement a style of playing it out from the back which the players especially Cech were not comfortable with. They also lacked ideas, guile, and strength in their midfield while their defence did not fare well either. In their next game against Chelsea, there were some improvements, though their defence was still a suspect in that game with Bellerin been caught out of position for the first goal while Mustafi could have done better for the second goal. However going forward Arsenal showed they could be a threat too. It could have been a different result had Aubemeyang and Mkhitaryan converted their open goal miss. Another thing to take away from Emery’s first two games is that he is not afraid to make bold calls. He took off Xhaka at halftime while he also took off Ozil later on. Nevertheless, it has been two games and two defeats for Arsenal against their rivals which mean they are already playing catch up two games into the season.
Unai Emery will definitely get the time he needs to make sure Arsenal becomes a top team again but he needs to act fast. He will need to fix up a leaky defence that has been an underlying issue in recent seasons and also find a way to find his perfect midfield pairing. Although Guendozi has been the shining light in their midfield this season, you cannot say the same about Xhaka who was below par in the game against Manchester City and Chelsea. In the game against City, Arsenal had just 48% of the ball in the midfield while Xhaka lost the ball 19 times more than any other player [OPTA]. Emery will need to find a way to bring in Torreria could be the answer to Arsenal problem in the midfield.
Another issue Emery will need to solve is finding a way of playing Lacazette and Aubemeyang upfront. Lacazette started the two games from the bench with Aubemeyang leading alone from the front but this has proven not to work. Lacazette and Abumeyang starting together mean Arsenal have more attacking threat up front. However, while Lacazette and Aubemeyang starting upfront increase Arsenal’s attacking threat, it may not be enough to win them enough games if Emery insists on playing it out from the back with Cech in goal. Petr Cech may still be a good goalkeeper but he has shown that he is not a goalkeeper who is good with the ball at his feet. Emery will have to bring in Bernard Leno who was signed from Bayer Leverkusen and has proven to be better with the ball at his feet while he was with the German club. Nevertheless, Emery will also need to be wise and let the players know when to switch things up if they are finding it difficult playing it out from the back because of City pressing. In the game against City, it was obvious Arsenal players were struggling with the new style and Emery could have told them to go direct which may have hurt City. Though the new school managers are obsessed with this style of play, they also know when to switch things up by changing to plan B whenever plan A is not working. This is something Emery will also need to adopt if he really wants to be a success at the Emirates.
