(MENAFN- Khaleej Times)The FA Cup. The Community Shield. The Asia Trophy. The Emirates Cup.
Arsenal have built up quite the collection of trophies over the last few months. But the silverware the club really wants - the Premier League and the Champions League - look as far away as ever on the evidence of a season opener that exposed the biggest flaws in Arsene Wenger's teams of recent years. All the optimism surrounding Arsenal - after a strong finish to last season and good set of preseason results - and talk of an assault at the Premier League title this campaign were punctured by a 2-0 home loss to West Ham featuring wasted chances and flaky defending. It's a familiar story for Arsenal fans. The arrival from Chelsea of Petr Cech an authoritative goalkeeper with a vast medal collection and a winner's mentality was heralded by many as a breakthrough signing. One that could turn Arsenal from pretenders to genuine contenders. Forgetting Cech's mistakes against West Ham surely it was a striker and a leader at either centre back or in central midfield that Arsenal really needed to buy this summer? Olivier Giroud's scoring record in his three seasons at Arsenal - 11 league goals in 2012-13 16 in 2013-14 and 14 in 2014-15 - is decent but surely not good enough to build an attack around. As it stands he's the only out-and-out senior striker at Wenger's disposal with his other options being forwards-cum-wide players in Alexis Sanchez Theo Walcott and Danny Welbeck. Giroud has one goal in his last 11 matches for Arsenal and had another of those games against West Ham that makes you wonder what would happen if Arsenal had a reliable world-class striker leading the line. "Giroud alone as a striker there - you can't win the league" former Arsenal striker Thierry Henry said ahead of the season. "You need another type of striker." Wenger also clearly thinks Francis Coquelin is the answer in central midfield. It remains to be seen whether this unheralded Frenchman can maintain his impressive form from the second half to the last season when he was thrust into the team as a last resort after being on loan in England's third tier. For the door could be ajar for Arsenal this season at least in the Premier League. Chelsea the defending champion has decided against major investment from an already-strong base much like Manchester City chose to do last summer. Manchester United's new-look team may take time to gel after another offseason of heavy spending by Louis van Gaal and still have to resolve its own striker shortage and uncertainty over the future of goalkeeper David De Gea. An ageing Man City is restructuring to bring to revitalise their attack and Liverpool also are in transition. - AP
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