2024/25 Premier League Preview - Arsenal

After 2 consecutive seasons finishing as runners up to Manchester City, Arsenal find themselves entering this season chasing a first Premier League trophy since the 2003/04 season. It isn’t all negative though. Boasting last season’s best defensive record is no simple task and should it be carried into the upcoming season, they’ll be challenging for the top spot for a third season in a row. With the addition of Riccardo Calafiori who was one of the standout defenders for Italy in Euro 2024, alongside existing players like William Saliba who also had a fine tournament, Arsenal’s near indomitable defence will be in immensely good hands for the foreseeable future.

What Mikel Arteta and the Arsenal squad will be optimistic about is their year-on-year improvement. The squad clearly believe in the vision Arteta has for the club and it has reflected in their performances over the last 24 months.

Their ability to score from set pieces was unmatched last season with a record breaking 22 goals, 16 of which coming from corners. This can only be praised as they made the unconventional but effective decision to use Declan Rice as their right footed corner taker, resulting in a career best 8 assists for him on the season. Rice (8) as well as Marin Ødegaard (10) and Bukayo Saka (9) led the way for Arsenal for assists, bringing them to a total of 59 by the end of the season, only bested by Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City who finished with 66. So it is safe to assume they have fantastic production going forwards to go with their standout back line.  

The only concern that could be had for Arsenal at this stage is their lack of a big money signing outside of their defensive ranks. The talk over them signing Ivan Toney or any other striker for that matter seems to have cooled since earlier this year so they may look to Kai Havertz to lead the line again in the false nine position. They already have the permanent signing of golden glove winner David Raya following his loan spell from Brentford but this was pretty much a done deal months ago. It’s also expected that Arsenal will sign a central midfielder which will compensate for the expected departure of Thomas Partey. 

Should they proceed without signing a striker they will look to share their goals between their forward line in the same way as they did last season. Bukayo Saka (16), Kai Havertz (13) and Leandro Trossard (12) all had fine seasons in front of goal and there isn’t much doubt surrounding any of them being able to produce this well for Arsenal moving forwards. They will also be mindful that they still have Gabriel Jesus in their ranks who could only manage 4 goals in an injury hampered season. Another player Arsenal fans will be happy to see more of now that he is off the injury list is Jurrien Timber. Timber arrived from Ajax for £38m last summer, only to suffer a cruciate ligament tear on the opening day against Nottingham Forest and only returned in Arsenal’s final game of the season against Everton.

Overall, Arsenal will be expected to put up a firm challenge for the title, the objective of achieving top 4 is out of the question, their focus can only be on topping the league. It is expected that they will make a couple of signings before the transfer window closes on August 30th so they can add to an already strong squad. Silverware of any kind needs to be the priority this season so it can verify Arteta’s progress as Arsenal manager. He currently stands with just the 2019/20 FA cup to his name as a full time manager which makes the need for silverware even more critical. 

The biggest question mark will be surrounding the strength of their competition outside of Manchester City, who’ve won the league 4 times in a row. Liverpool, Tottenham, Manchester United and Chelsea have all had a mixed run of form in the last few years and have in the most part underachieved in the Premier League through this time, but all appear to be on paths to improvement or change, be that through new managers, owners or signings. The “big six” is clearly not what it was before, with that group of teams not finishing in the top six since the 2021/22 season, but with Arsenal’s core group of players not looking like they’re going anywhere off the back of a good couple of seasons and there not being much of a desperate need to recruit many more players or a new manager, it’s only logical to suggest they’re in a better spot than the other big six teams with the exception of Manchester City. 

League prediction: 2nd

Squad grade: A

Manager grade: A-