Is the Arsenal Title Window open?
Is the Arsenal Title Window open?
With the slip up and rebuilding of Arsenal's rivals, can Arsenal dream of bigger things?
Manchester City looks like a machine but one that is surprisingly shallow at key positions.
Chelsea are bedding in a new owner, who wanted to play Football Manager himself. Oh yeah, they also have a new coach.
Manchester United have a new coach and years of weird squad building that has left the team talented but oddly shaped.
Liverpool lost a key player to their time at the top, they brought in an exciting attacker to replace him. The key midfielders are good but the first two months of the season showed that it could be bumpy to have that sort of age in key positions. They have already also slipped up dropping points which has limited their margin for error.
Tottenham looked very good under Antonio Conte last season but this year they have been very weird and have some big questions about whether this points accumulation can be sustained or if they can get back to what they were at the end of last season.
All of these above I think are valid questions about the teams and their chances of challenging for the title this season in the Premier League. There is also a winter World Cup which will pause the club season we have no idea how it could impact teams. This season feels different and a lot more open than typical.
So that leads me to the question that I want to address, is the window open for Arsenal?
This is inspired quite a bit by the latest Arsenal Vision podcast.
I think the answer to the question about the window is sort of. So yes all the teams above have valid questions but I think so does Arsenal. This is a team that at best over the last 18 months has only had a few month spells of sustained good play.
This is also a team that I think has depth questions at key positions (all the top teams have this question) and the step up to a title challenge does include the projection of improvement for the key young players in the team. It wouldn’t be outlandish for it to happen it would just take some luck and good timing, but that is the case with most Championships.
My biggest worry about this question is that it feels like it is being asked too early (thanks international break).
Yes, Arsenal have looked very good this season.
Like legit, very good.
They have also played a kind schedule and they didn’t pass with flying colors against the first big hurdle that they have come up against.
The Manchester United match was one where I didn’t hate the performance and this is something that will happen from time to time when you play the style that Arsenal play. It was also a stumble. Both things can be true. I think if this match is played 10 times Arsenal win 4 of them with 3 draws and 3 United wins, this wasn’t a bad loss but it also wasn’t something where the team was robbed.
I have been one the side of I don’t think that you should beat up Arsenal for their easy schedule and I still think that is true. The big part of that is that I think more than anything it shows that it helps show that the team has improved from previous years at beating the teams that they “should.” Winning against the teams you’re better than is what good teams do, but the best teams will use the matches against direct rivals to at worst limit gaps from opening in these potential six-pointer matches.
Arsenal have two of these coming up and that is why I think that this talk is premature. Arsenal are about to find out a lot about themselves with an October that will offer a more stern test, if Arsenal get past that looking as good as they do now, yeah let’s start dreaming but let’s not get lost dreaming and set up for disappointment.