Can Arsenal win the Premier League title without a powerhouse No 9?
A nearly season. It’s not an unreasonable description after back-to-back Premier League campaigns embellished by a strong challenge. Year on year under manager Mikel Arteta, the team have improved and impressed, but they have not quite got themselves ahead of the winning machine that is Manchester City.
The crowd returned for the match against German champions Bayer Leverkusen in midweek to see a very familiar line-up. Often, these games are a chance for a first glance at a shiny new toy acquired in the transfer market. But the matchday squad entirely comprised last season’s players. Italy international defender Riccardo Calafiori, the only new signing of the summer so far, was not ready to take part.
Their 2024-25 season begins for real a week today (Saturday). Do the team have enough this time to go beyond more ’nearly’?
Arteta’s interest in a Spain international as another option for the midfield is well known, and work continues to bring another central cog into that department of the team. But what about the front line?
The manager enthused about the goal contributions of Kai Havertz and a refreshed Gabriel Jesus, along with Leandro Trossard’s menace, after his team enjoyed themselves in a 4-1 win. ‘The three, they have that false-nine profile,’ Arteta said. ‘I like what I saw.’
But is another year with last season’s attacking options going to be enough? Is sharing the goals among their collection of false nines, and the others around them who chip in, sufficient? Are there situations where a real nine is still needed, as best exemplified by City having Erling Haaland spearheading their team?
In essence, a key question relating to the team’s credentials is this: can a team win the Premier League in this era without an authentic No 9?
At the very start of summer, a promising 6ft 4in (194cm) target-man type striker was high on their agenda. Since the team were keen on the striker, that hints at their thoughts on the matter. As it turned out, the hulking 21-year-old Slovenia international has elected not to join the team.
So, given that deal didn’t happen, there are several ways they can pivot.
One option is a next-best big striker they can recruit.
Another option is to strengthen elsewhere in attack with a different profile of player, particularly as the issue of coming up with a deputy to cover for Bukayo Saka continues. (There are internal solutions there; someone has been used in the role during this pre-season, and someone else can do damage from wide on the right, but in an ideal world the manager might want something else.)
The final option is to wait. If they cannot get the player they want now, then hold onto their resources for when they can.
But that takes us back to the question of whether a team can win the title in this era without a powerhouse No 9.
In most basic terms, Haaland scored 27 Premier League goals as City’s top marksman last season and Saka led the team with 16. Then, widening the view to take in the top three scorers of each club (aka, all the players who hit double figures), brings City to 57 goals compared to the team’s 41.
Both clubs had 15 different league goalscorers, signifying a healthy spread across the team, and finished with an identical goal difference.
Maybe, if the team can refine their efficiency in general, they can emulate an already more than respectable number of total goals. A return to form for Jesus would help, after a disappointing four goals from his injury-limited 27 Premier League appearances last season. Another forward with the capability to be a difference maker feels even more of an issue given the possibility of someone else, who contributed five league goals, leaving the club before the transfer window shuts on August 30.
Stylistically, adding a Haaland-type player would bring an option the team don’t naturally possess at the moment — a physical beast who likes to dominate and hunt down scoring opportunities. Of course, introducing that to the squad would require some alterations to the way the manager sets his team up.
It is not hard to remember the crazed debates from a couple of years ago about whether the act of incorporating Haaland upset City’s balance. Overall, we can assume the manager is not too disappointed with how his team have evolved in the Norwegian’s two years at the club.
As things stand, the immediate decision concerns the starting forward for the new season.
Havertz finished the previous one as the undisputed first choice up front, providing a useful outlet with his 193cm height and willingness to look after the ball, and an increasing confidence in front of goal.
Jesus, who mislaid some of his dynamic verve in 2023-24 as he struggled to recover from a knee injury, has channeled some of that frustration into hitting a high level of fitness and motivation ahead of the new campaign.
With trips to Aston Villa, Tottenham and City, who all finished in the top five last time, in their opening five league games, the team needs to start at full throttle.