Saturday’s 6-3 defeat to Manchester City showed exactly where Arsenal are lacking, especially against the big guns and also demonstrated how much hard work needs to be done if the Gunners are going to go on and upset the Titan Bet football betting odds by winning the title this season.
At 1-1 just before the break, the game was finely poised before Laurent Koscielny was taken off injured while trying to stop Alvaro Negredo’s scoring City’s second and the Frenchman now looks set for a spell on the sidelines after picking-up a nasty gash on his knee.
The news means Thomas Vermaelen is likely to get a run in the side but he is a man who currently looks a shadow of his former self. When he first arrived from Ajax the Belgian was magnificent and looked like one of the best defenders in the league, if not Europe.
However, the skipper has struggled in the last 12 months, losing his place in the starting XI and now appears to be a shadow of his former self, often being found off the pace, while also seeming to lack the same composure that he previously possessed.
We are already short in central defence and you feel that with Koscielny struggling, Wenger must add reinforcements in January.
The other area where there is a glaring need for a fresh face and an area which is being focused on in the transfer betting speculation is up front, where once again Olivier Giroud looked tired against City, while Nicklas Bendtner still appears some way off being an adequate understudy.
Bendtner did find the net at the Etihad, only for his effort to be ruled out but he still lacks the urgency and motivation needed to play at the highest level.
Real Madrid youngster Alavaro Morata has been mentioned as a possible loan signing in January and although the player has denied the rumours, he would fit the mould nicely as his physique will mean he has no issues adjusting to life in the Premier League
Arsenal still sit two points clear at the top of the table but if we don’t add in the New Year our dreams of claiming the title could be over sooner than we know it.