3 Things Arsenal Should Do This January To Win The Title

As the Premier League season has reached the halfway mark, clubs now have time to introduce changes, in order to improve their results. Arsenal are the current league leaders, followed by Manchester City and Chelsea.

However the difference between this three teams remains very tight. The January transfer market is an opportunity to strengthen the squads and Gunners‘ coach Arsene Wenger could continue his transfer record after splashing huge cash on Mesut Ozil signing back on the deadline day in August. Nevertheless contracts and tactics should not be forgotten when planning improvements at a club. What should Arsenal do in order to keep their place and finish first in the Premier League this season?

1. Sign A Star Striker

Since Robin van Persie’s departure last summer Arsenal did not manage to replace him with an effective forward. None of the club’s strikers, including Olivier Giroud, Theo Walcott and returning from injury-recovering Lucas Podolski are now as good as Robin van Persie was before leaving. Aaron Ramsey is the club’s top scorer this season with 13 goals on his account. However the Welshman is a midfielder and it’s a striker’s role to score goals.

Arsenal had unsuccesfully tried signing Argentinean Gonzalo Higuain before he had moved to Napoli. Giroud’s decent form this season may urge Arsene Wenger not to spend money on another striker, nevertheless the club clearly needs one.

Atletico Madrid’s Diego Costa would be an obvious choice. The Brazilian striker is La Liga’s top scorer with 17 goals, tied with Cristiano Ronaldo. Costa is a tall centre-forward, nevertheless, unlike Olivier Giroud he is capable of holding a forward line by himself. The deal taking the Brazilian international to Arsenal would make the Gunners trigger the £32 million release clause. Also the Spanish side isn’t willing to sell their in-form striker before the season end, as they hope to catch up Barcelona in the race for the league championship.

2. Plan B – Cheap & Experienced Striker

Berbatov

If money is a concern and if Arsenal management does not want to spend huge fee on a marquee signing , Wenger should think of purchasing a cheap, experienced striker, who can easily find the net if well assisted. The man the Gunners should pay attention to is Dimitar Berbatov, who is currently part of Fulham. If the North Londoners managed to sign the Bulgarian on a short-term deal they would fill in the gaps in their attack. He would be an excellent back up to Olivier Giroud.

3. Extend Contracts & Release Players

January is also time when players whose contracts are running down can sign a pre-contract agreement with another club. The board should extend Bacary Sagna’s deal, as their starting right-back could decide to leave Arsenal on a free transfer in June.

Thomas Rosicky, as the Czech, aged 33, but plays like a 23 year old. His acceleration and his ability to drift past defenders as if they were not there are phenomenal. Easily, one of the most under rated players in the league.  He too deserves a contract extension.

Polish goalkeeper Łukasz Fabiański, striker Nicklas Bendtner and Emannuel Frimpong are likely to move in order to play, rather than remain on the sidelines of the Etihad. Wenger should release these three so that wage bill will be reduced a bit.

The Gunners have had a successful half of the season, however they should rest on one’s laurels and remember the team has still lots of development to be made.