The positions Unai Emery MUST strengthen if Arsenal wants top four finish

The January transfer window opens in less than 36 hours and clubs will be open to buying and selling players. Arsenal ended 2018 on a bad note after being humbled and whitewashed 5-1 at Anfield, this clearly left more answers than questions.

Arsenal displayed total comical defending as Liverpool scored five and the major culprit was Stephan Lichsteiner who arrived from Juventus in June for free. Being 34-years-old you’d expect him to have composure from his experience but he has been a total liability especially in the last two games. The Swiss veteran’s defensive error led to Brighton’s equalizer earlier in mid-week making Arsenal drop 2 points and again he was responsible for Liverpool’s first goal as his poor clearance landed on Mustafi’s back leading to Firmino’s first goal.

Defenders!!:

This has been Arsenal’s problem for at-least the past three seasons. Holding is ruled out for the rest of the season, Bellerin is out for two more weeks and his back-up Lichsteiner is just awful and should be sold off or have his contract terminated. Koscielny returned but he’s not the one we know he’s finished and we all know how woeful Mustafi can be. Emery must sign 2-3 defenders one “world-class” and  two decent one’s possibly a backup for Bellerin and two center-backs. Arsenal have long-term absentees in defence and their roles need to be filled.

A Winger:

Former Arsenal midfielder Alexis Sanchez

Arsenal in the last seasons lost 3 wingers Sanchez, Walcott and Oxlade-Chamberlain and failed to replace them. Arsenal currently have only one recognized winger Alex Iwobi and have resorted to playing Mkhitaryan on the wing and sometimes Ozil as well as either Lacazette or Aubameyang having to playing on the wings at times.

A quick winger is needed because Mkhitaryan is sidelined until February and Iwobi is unreliable and inconsistent.

Other issues that need to be sorted out include Ramsey’s replacement, and the Ozil saga. Emery needs to trust his highest paid player and stop benching him or completely leaving him out of the squad for whatever “tactical reasons” he claims. Ozil is undoubtedly Arsenal’s most creative player and deserves to be on the team-sheet.

Emery,  Raul Sanllehi and Sven Mislintat need to be financially supported by the board to invest highly in new quality player otherwise Arsenal will miss out on a top four finish once again and worse end the season without any silverware.