It is popular to common knowledge that Arsene Wenger hardly does much business during the winter transfer window, and while his reluctance is partly down to the hardship that comes with getting a new player to quickly adapt to the squad at such point in the campaign, it can’t be denied that the period gives the team an opportunities to quickly address their shortcomings.
Arsenal risk failing to sustain a strong title challenge until the end of the season if they refuse to make necessary reinforcements for the 2nd half of the season this term, and here are 3 key areas where a reinforcement is badly needed next month:
Left-back
Monreal has proven himself over the years and has permanently made the left of the defence his ahead of Gibbs. However, the Spaniard still has his flaws, and there are definitely better left backs than him in the Premier League.
Same can’t be said regarding Bellerin, a pointer to why the 30-year-old remains the weak link in Arsenal’s backline, despite being a good player to a large extent.
His major weaknesses are his apparent lack of pace and ability to handle one-on-one situations against opponents. While a match isn’t always a decider to make a forgone conclusion, his performance against City at the weekend highlighted his flaws.
Sterling and Sane gave Monreal a torrid time, and he should have done better to deny the English winger enough space for the winner.
Landing a better player might not be easy, but Arsenal have scouts for a reason, and a solid full-back definitely can be gotten if a search is intensely done.
An all-round solid defence could just be the solution to the lack of clean sheets the team is currently suffering.
Defensive midfield
Xhaka and Elneny won’t pass for the best blocking midfielders in the world or even England at that, though they both might have run the show during their time in the Swiss league.
Coquelin has been made to fill in Cazorla’s role temporarily, with Xhaka playing majorly as the number 4, but even the French tough-tackler isn’t all that impressive. There is a reason why he has never been considered worthy of a national team call-up.
Granit, on the other hand, continues to perform below par, and it can be argued that he hasn’t had an utterly convincing performance yet this season.
Arsenal might never be able to get another Gilberto Silva or a Patrick Vieira reincarnated, but if they do manage to land a player close in quality to either of those 2, their midfield could become the most solid in the land.
Getting one in January should be top of Wenger’s plans, as the defence hasn’t enjoyed enough protection from this area of the pitch, and it’s a big reason why they have only managed to go just 4 league games without shipping goals.
Left attacking midfield
Since Sanchez moved to centre forward, the left wing has lacked the verve the Chilean used to exert on the flank. Try as they might, Iwobi, Chamberlain and Ramsey have failed to produce the same type of effects Alexis used to inject into the attack from the position.
Having permanently moved him to lead the attack, the onus is on Wenger to get an equally capable replacement for the role, and the auditioning going on in between the aforementioned 3 can’t continue forever when none of them looks exactly convincingly effective.
Landing a quality reinforcement for that position is necessary if Arsenal are to become more lethargic in the final third. That there is no permanent player for the role means it is really in dire need of a great recruitment.