Arsenal have been sliding down the Premier League table with each passing season and last campaign then finished eighth on the table, behind teams like West Ham United and Spurs.
While 8th place might look really bad but the Gunners spent a large part of the season in the second half of the table so Mikel Arteta will be really pleased that at least they managed to get back into the top half.
An eighth-place finish means Arsenal will not be playing in Europe next season, which is a major blow for a club like them. But according to Danny Murphy, Arsenal might turn out to be a surprise package next season, driven by the fact that they will not have the pressure of playing of European football.
“I’ve got a feeling and I don’t know where it’s coming from,” he said on talkSPORT, as quoted. “I think with no European football and it looks like they’re having a go in the market, I think Arsenal might surprise a few.
“Although they’ve got a tough start, I think some of their young players – Emile Smith Rowe and Bukayo Saka, for example, are tremendous.
“If [Thomas] Partey stays fit, we’ve seen glimpses of his ability.
“It could rest on [Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang], he’s only had the one bad season. I think Arsenal might just surprise a few people but we’ve been wrong before about them.”
Why Arsenal are not going to surprise anyone:
This tactic of “We play better in the league because we don’t play in midweek” has been a plan that many big clubs have used in the past but so far, the results have not been overwhelming.
The reality is that without European football, Arsenal have lost a lot of finances and this has somewhat forced them to make gamble signings this summer(read: Ben White for £50M).
Also, thanks to their dismal state no major player is now willing to take the risk of signing for them which means the rebuilding process has automatically gone sluggish.
We really do not expect the North London side to pull the rabbit out of the hat next season and even if they can get back into the Europa League then it will be a major plus for manager Mikel Arteta.
