Manchester City drew 1-1 with Newcastle United yesterday to give Arsenal a massive boost in the race for a 3rd place finish in the Premier league this season. Arsenal who were just two month ago top of the Premier league table find themselves having to fight for a place in the top four.
The Gunners who are currently in third are just four points above Manchester United who are in fifth which means Arsenal can still miss out of the top four party if they continue to drop points and United continue to gain them. However, knowing how inconsistent Manchester United have been and Arsenal’s easy run in, I think Arsenal will comfortably finish among the top four. The real issue is, if one of Wenger’s excuses not to buy players this summer is to be eliminated, Arsenal must finish 3rd at the minimum.
By finishing 3rd, Arsenal will automatically be in the Champions league thereby removing Wenger’s excuse of saying we can’t go all out for players till we are sure we are in the group stage of the Champions league. With the European Championship coming up in June, players will embark on holiday immediately after the championship in France coupled with the fact that the qualification match for the Champions league takes place in August, just two weeks before the close of the transfer window.
If Arsenal spent two months last summer and could only sign Petr Cech, two weeks is certainly not going to be enough to sign the sort of players Arsenal will need to sign if they want to compete in all competition next season. Also, if Arsenal do not finish 3rd, big name stars won’t want to sign for the Gunners unless they are sure to be playing in the Champions league and unfortunately this could lead to other clubs signing our targets.
In 2013, we had to play Fenerbahce to qualify for the Champions league group stage, the club didn’t go into the transfer market until we had qualified and by then, many of our targets had moved elsewhere but thanks to the Gareth Bale transfer, we were able to sign Mesut Ozil. That was our only real business that summer, although we ended up winning the FA cup that season but we probably would have won the league if we had signed a striker.
The same problem could well spring up this summer if we do not beat City to the 3rd position. We simply must beat West Bromwich Albion tomorrow and retake back the third position on the table and then ensure we do not drop any more points. Failure to do the right business in the transfer window this summer can only turn the fan base against Wenger and the team the more and that’s the last thing the club needs.