Young Guns | Arsenal News

After weeks of speculation, Arsenal look to have finally sorted out their goalkeeper situation for the new season.

Only time will tell

Serge Gnabry has been considered a big talent at Arsenal for a long time, but he’s never quite managed a break through.

Either way, opting to go the Olympics was bold but it could have just saved Gnabry’s Arsenal career.​

Ever since Leicester lifted the title last year there has been speculation as to if they could hang on the key players that inspired them to win the Premier League.

Jamie Vardy has elected to stay with the Champions despite the lure of the Emirates and N’Golo Kante has headed to London, alas to the blue side of the city. But the player that arguably lit up the most stadia from Newcastle to Southampton was Algerian winger Riyad Mahrez.

Mahrez (25) was a revelation last season contributing 17 goals and 14 assists in 37 games and forming a devastating partnership with Vardy. This return earned him the PFA Players’ Player of the Year and PFA Fans’ Player of the Year for 2015/16. Links with a top club were inevitable and Arsene Wenger has long been an admirer.

As the start of the new season looms it looks like Arsenal may well get their man with a £37million move featuring heavily in the press and Mahrez would fit in well as a Gunner. Wenger needs to improve on the 2nd place that he has become so familiar with and its goals he needs to help propel Arsenal just that little bit further up the table.

Olivier Giroud is a good striker but his conversion rate is a source of frustration to most Arsenal fans, Danny Wellbeck and Theo Walcott have both suffered with injuries as has Alexis Sanchez and Joel Campbell is seemingly out of favour. Not since Robert Pires have Arsenal had a truly world-class winger who can bring flair, pace and goals to the side. The assists Mahrez brings could also well help Giroud find the back of the net with a greater frequency as his ability to unlock Premiership defences is known and feared.

This has to be the season for Arsenal, Wenger’s current contract is in his final year and he has a truly talented team that just needs a few key positions strengthened to mount a major challenge. On that note another centre back would also be a priority to help stiffen the back line in the temporary absence of the injured Mertesacker.

Bet on Brazil have Arsenal at 6/1 to lift the title next year, odds that will surely drop if Mahrez is brought on board. There are also some great prices on top goal-scorer so head on over to www.betonbrazil.com and back the Gunners to glory.

You could be forgiven for not knowing much about Rob Holding before he signed for Arsenal a few days ago.

The 20-year-old had only played a few times for Bolton last season, and despite winning their Player of the Year award, many onlookers suggested he still had a lot to prove.

That didn’t stop Arsenal though.

They signed him up in a £2million deal – to the surprise of many – and Holding has since played in both pre-season matches in America.

Arsenal negotiated for a while, just like Titanbet have been trying a free bet for a while.

He impressed in the victory over MLS All-Stars on his debut, but Holding really showed his class against Chivas last night, scoring a goal and generally showing his ability.

The future looks bright for Rob and if you’re a betting man, click here to bet on him being a key part of Arsenal’s success in the upcoming campaign.

Arsenal’s best times have come with a strong, English central defender at the back, and Rob Holding could just be the latest to fill that role.

You know the names of the teams in the Premier League, but how well do you know their logos?

In the last 100 years Chelsea have changed their team badge over 5 times and Arsenal over 10 times! With each new era of the game comes club design overhauls. So how well do you know your Premier League club crests? Take our quiz and test your knowledge!

Quiz supplied by football odds bookmakers Paddy Power

Tony Adams is returning to Arsenal next season to work with the Under-18 team.

Adams, a true Gunners legend, will work with Thierry Henry as assistant U18 coaches with current Under-16 boss Kwame Ampadu expected to be the manager.

This is a major signal of intent from Arsenal who are keen to bolster their coaching options by turning to former players – something that we haven’t done in the past.

Adams has management experience, previously working for Wycombe, Portsmouth and Gabala, and while things didn’t always go well, there’s no doubting he has a lot to offer.

I’m interested to see the balance between Adams’ defence knowledge and Henry’s striker knowledge, which should give the youth team total balance.

Henry is expected to sign his contract with Arsenal after Euro 2016, where he is working as a pundit for the BBC. Make sure you follow bethut’s Euro 2016 News for more on that.

Overall, Arsenal’s youth teams have been a bit of a mess for years and fans will be pretty excited by this news of two legends returning – to try and move the club forward.

Will another Jack Wilshere be just around the corner? We can only hope so.

Having suffered a frustrating end of season, in which only a final day victory saw them cement a second placed finish in the Premier League, Arsene Wenger looks set for a busy summer as he looks to turn his side into title contenders come next season. Following the arrival of midfielder Granit Xhaka from German Bundesliga side Borussia Monchengladbach for a reported £30million, Leicester City’s Jamie Vardy is set to be the next newcomer at the Emirates Stadium. Having continued his dramatic rise to stardom by leading his side to Premier League glory, Arsenal have now triggered a release clause in the England man’s contract, and will now discuss terms with the former Fleetwood Town striker before finalising a deal.

With Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho joining Manchester rivals City and United respectively for the new season, Wenger seems determined to add to his team’s strength in depth, in order to contend with a heightened challenge from elsewhere next season. Despite coming in second place last time around, a ten-point deficit to winners Leicester further highlighted Arsenal’s shortcomings, in a season which should surely have been the Gunners first title victory since 2004. With the coming campaign looking likely to be one of the most competitive in recent Premier League history, why not place your bets on your favourite team using the calculator at Bookmakers.com, supplied by Bell Internet Limited.

Keeping hold of Hector Bellerin could well be one of Wengers’ biggest challenges during the off season, as the defender who was among the standout performers for the Gunners this year, continues to be linked with a move to Barcelona and Manchester City. Bellerin is part of the Spain squad for the upcoming European Championships in France this summer, and will be hoping to help his side to successfully defend their title from four years ago. Use the betting calculator from Bell Internet to locate the best odds for the tournament starting later on this week.

With Danny Welbeck a long term injury issue for Arsene Wenger, the arrival of Vardy would certainly offer a more potent goal threat for the Gunners, with Olivier Giroud struggling for large periods of the season. Vardy finished with 24 league goals, just one behind Tottenham’s Harry Kane in the standings.

Last weekend, Arsenal earned a 2-1 victory against Championship side Burnley to advance to the fifth round of the FA Cup. With nine Premier League teams remaining in the competition, it looked as though the Gunners would face a difficult tie but they will once again face second-tier opposition after drawing Steve Bruce’s Hull City.

Fortunately for the Gunners, Manchester City and Chelsea were drawn against each other – meaning that one of their main rivals for the crown will be eliminated before the quarter-final stage. Arsenal will be quietly confident of their chances this season and although the Premier League will remain the number one priority, a third consecutive FA Cup success shouldn’t be snuffed at.

According to Betway’s football odds, Arsenal are now the favourites for the FA Cup this season. At the time of writing, the Gunners are 7/2 to defend their title – and it’s hard to argue against them. On current form, Arsenal are capable of beating anybody and, with no disrespect to Hull, they were fortunate to avoid a top flight side in the draw.

With the likes of Alexis Sanchez, Mesut Ozil and Olivier Giroud in the side, Arsenal have enough offensive talent to cause problems for Hull’s defence. The Tigers have enjoyed plenty of success since suffering relegation to the Championship but Bruce’s side are likely to struggle against the sheer power and ability of Arsenal’s octane attacking unit.

In fact, Arsenal’s strike force could well be the key to both their FA Cup and Premier League hopes this campaign. At the start of the season, many Arsenal fans criticised Arsene Wenger after the Frenchman decided to stick by Giroud as Arsenal’s main striker. The Gunners were linked with Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema throughout the summer but a move never materialised – something that riled the majority of supporters.

However, Giroud has been simply sublime this campaign. The Frenchman has flourished as Arsenal’s leading forward and is enjoying his football at the Emirates Stadium. With the European Championships on home soil in France this summer, it’s hardly a huge surprise to see Giroud trying desperately to impress both Wenger and national team coach Didier Deschamps.

Attention will now turn to Arsenal’s upcoming Premier League fixtures. On Sunday, the Gunners will travel to Bournemouth as they look to keep pace with Leicester City and Manchester City at the top of the table. Punters can visit Betway’s website to check this weekend’s football odds and as of February 1st, Wenger’s men are priced at 11/10 to pick up all three points in that clash.

However, it’s the FA Cup that will be on Arsenal’s minds right now – and rightly so. Gunners’ supporters will already have one eye on a potential quarter-final clash and with a number of top flight sides facing difficult ties, Arsenal could well have a fairly straightforward route to the final. With a bit of luck, there’s absolutely no reason why Wenger’s men cannot win the competition once again this season.

There was a sense of déjà vu about Arsenal’s defeat by Tottenham at the weekend.

Not in the sense of losing to Spurs as that hasn’t happened too often under Arsene Wenger. But in the sense that it is reminiscent of the situation 12 months ago.

It wasn’t the way Wenger would have wanted to mark his 700th Premier League game as Arsenal manager.

Losing 2-1 at White Hart Lane, especially after being in front at half-time, has again led to fears that Arsenal are in danger of missing out on qualification for next season’s Champions League.

That finishing in the top four is the target when we’re only just into February is clearly a disappointment after at least being involved in the title race for the opening months of last season. A 14-point gap to Chelsea isn’t going to be bridged in the next three months is it?

And it is understandable why there is annoyance, even anger, when making the Champions League again is what will be classed as a successful season.

The parallels with this time of year last season are drawn with Arsenal losing 5-1 at Liverpool the week before the FA Cup fifth round, which was a similarly demoralising and depressing defeat as Saturday’s was at Spurs.

But Arsenal recovered from that setback to subsequently knock Liverpool out of the FA Cup before going on to beat Hull City in the final.

Wenger also ensured Arsenal qualified for the Champions League for the 17th consecutive year.

An FA Cup fifth round tie at home to Middlesbrough offers a great opportunity to reach the quarter-finals and Arsenal could easily end the week back inside the top four.

So, come the end of May, there could be a repeat of the 2013/14 season, with Arsenal finishing in fourth place and winners of the FA Cup.

But, it is this perpetual feeling of Groundhog Day which is the source of such discontent when it comes to talk about Wenger and Arsenal’s future, and what is the ultimate ambition.

Wenger never wavers in his belief that Arsenal will finish in the top four. Meanwhile, the odds have Arsenal as 4/9 to finish in the Premier League’s top four.

Yet the fans demand more than that. There is a desire, a desperation even, to see a sustained assault on the title, which hasn’t been won since 2004. That only three clubs have won the league since then, and those are the three with the biggest resources, is of little consequence.

It always seems a case of one step forward, and then one step back, over and over again. The promise and potential is there, the footballing talent is unquestionable, but the character and bull-by-the-horns leadership of past greats like Adams and Vieira always seems to be out of reach.

Sure, the game has moved on since Adams and Vieira were leading Arsenal’s charge for honours. But there is always the need for players of that ilk.

It is hard to see Arsenal’s seemingly pre-determined seasonal destiny changing until that issue is addressed.

Still, would finishing fourth at the expense of Spurs make up for failing to challenge for the title?