A 5-Point Plan to Secure Premier League Glory for Arsenal
Don’t worry, Arsene, we’ve got you covered.
As Mr. Wenger and his Gunners sit five points off the top of the Premier League table with 13 games remaining, we’ve come up with a five-point plan to steer the north Londoners to a first league title success since 2004.
At various points this season, Arsenal have looked like champions-in-waiting, but the stunning emergence of Leicester City and the Gunners' own patchy form in 2016 has threatened that status, something which won’t return until they put the following plan into action.
Treat Leicester City with Respect on Sunday
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At the start of the season, it is obvious which are Arsenal’s biggest fixtures, with the clashes against the likes of Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea and Manchester United all leaping off the page.
No Gunners fan would have been eagerly scanning the fixture list searching for when Leicester City were due to visit the Emirates Stadium, but when Claudio Ranieri’s men arrive on Sunday lunchtime, it isn’t too far-fetched to claim that this will be the biggest fixture of the season so far.
The Gunners are, along with Liverpool, one of only two teams to beat the Foxes in the Premier League this season, but a lot has changed since that 5-2 victory in September in which Alexis Sanchez hit a hat-trick.
This promises to be a much tighter, tactical game, and Wenger will have to approach it as he would a fixture against one of his more traditional rivals, or even a big European game.
Leicester have been able to constantly surprise people due to the ability to be just as good without the ball as they are with it, breaking quickly and utilising Riyad Mahrez and Jamie Vardy’s abilities to do what they do best—making the most of any space afforded to them as they charge forward.
Arsenal will need to guard against that, perhaps sitting a few yards deeper than they normally do at the Emirates Stadium, trying to invite Leicester onto them before utilising their own tactic against them and breaking with pace.
Don’t Feel the Need to Dominate Possession
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In addition to treating them with respect, perhaps Arsenal could also learn from Leicester’s approach during this latter half of the season when the Gunners will face tough away games at Manchester United, Tottenham, Everton and Manchester City.
The Foxes have won at three of those grounds already this season (and could make it a clean sweep when they go to Old Trafford on April 30), and they did so by employing the tactics mentioned in the previous slide—tactics they’ll look to replicate at the Emirates Stadium, too.
They have shown that allowing your opponents to almost monopolise possession while staying strong at the back is the way to win such fixtures; and given that Arsenal are perhaps going to have to win three of those four away games mentioned, then they could do with following suit if they are to win the league.
Last January’s 2-0 success at Manchester City—in which the BBC Sport match report claims that the Gunners had just 35 per cent of the possession—was widely regarded as the moment the “penny dropped” for Arsenal and Wenger on how they should approach such matches.
They might need two or three repeats if they are to stand any chance of becoming champions.
Don’t Get Distracted or Downhearted by Barcelona
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Later this month—and then again in March—there will come a time when Arsenal have to play against Barcelona in the Champions League. And like most football teams who come into contact with the European champions, they are probably going to lose.
The Catalan giants have won 23 and drawn five of their last 28 matches in all competitions, a fearsome record which marks them out as the elite team in world football right now.
Their front three are playing the sort of game that no defence in the world can live with, and although Arsenal will rightly hope to go toe-to-toe with them and land more than a few passing blows, it is key that they don’t become too disillusioned should the worst happen and they lose heavily.
In previous Gunners' seasons, a high-profile exit from the Champions League has been the pre-cursor to some disappointing league form. But whereas back then that was still likely to be enough to coast into a top-four finish, the stakes are much higher now.
A confidence-sapping defeat would have to be forgotten about almost instantly, just as the Gunners also can’t afford to get distracted by the possibility of playing Lionel Messi and company when there are still so many important league points to win.
Replace Mathieu Flamini with Francis Coquelin
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Obviously he has been working his way back to full fitness following the injury which kept him out of action for over two months, but after an FA Cup start and two substitute appearances in the Premier League in the last 10 days, now is the time to return Francis Coquelin to the starting lineup consistently.
The combative Frenchman has excelled in the Gunners team since he was surprisingly thrust into the action in the middle of last season, and if he can quickly get up to speed, then his presence in the centre of the pitch will be vital in the closing months of the campaign.
Mathieu Flamini has done a good job in Coquelin’s absence, but he’s not quite as reliable as his countryman, and his tendency to wander from his designated midfield post can sometimes have an adverse effect against the better opponents.
Perhaps Wenger knows this and that is why he has been gradually re-introducing Coquelin to his team, but now is the time to put him back into the starting lineup and keep him there for the remainder of the campaign.
Keep Aaron Ramsey at the Centre of Things
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Another Arsenal midfielder who has faced time in the treatment room over the last couple of months has been Santi Cazorla, but at least his continued absence has allowed Aaron Ramsey to thrive in a central position.
The Welshman was excellent in the victory at Bournemouth last weekend, dominating the game from the centre of the pitch and supplying Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain with the assist for his well-taken goal.
With Cazorla not due for a return until late March according to the injury-monitoring website PhysioRoom, then Ramsey should remain in the centre of both Wenger’s thoughts and team, utilising his box-to-box credentials to become a valued commodity in the title race.
With Coquelin behind him and Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil finding space up ahead, Ramsey’s performances promise to be one of the key things about the Gunners’ run-in, with the extra goals he can contribute from midfield perhaps being the difference between success and failure.
We’ve now entered the period of the season when big players have to step up and produce big performances, and Ramsey could permanently enhance his reputation in the next few months.
