Ex-Gunner says 'this is what Arsenal need to win'

Former Arsenal star Paul Merson is the latest in a long line of pundits to claim he knows what we need to win the title, and has yet again said we are lacking a “spine” in our team.

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He insists that we are lacking a goalkeeper, a centre-back, a midfielder, and a striker – something we have heard a million times before.

“They definitely need a new goalkeeper. If you look at their two goalkeepers, when have they saved them points over the course of the season? I can’t remember many times,” he said (via the Express).

“At centre-back, Gabriel Paulista could be pretty good next season but they still need another centre-half and they also need a holding midfield player, but I don’t know who they’ll go for.

“And up front, when Olivier Giroud got injured Arsenal’s season kind of went with him, so they need another forward in case that happens again.

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“I’ve just gone through the whole spine of the team. Every team has to have a good spine to win anything and I think they need new faces in every position down the centre – that’s worrying.”

A defensive midfielder is certainly a priority, as Francis Coquelin is currently carrying a huge burden on his shoulders. He is the only one in the current squad who can really do the job we need in midfield, and if he were to suffer an injury we would be in severe trouble.

The same arguably goes for Olivier Giroud, as the Frenchman has become indispensable to us now. We saw how much we missed him when he was out with a broken foot, and Merson is right when he says we struggled without him.

We do have other options in attack though, so a forward certainly isn’t as much of a priority as a midfield general. We should be on the lookout if the right player comes along, but we only really need top class attacking reinforcements.

David Ospina and Wojciech Szczesny could certainly be improved upon, although again, we should only be targeting top quality.

It’s almost impossible to see Wenger bringing in another centre-back however, as we already have plenty of options there. It would of course be possible to replace the players we already have, but it seems unlikely.

Everyone seems to feel we need a new spine to challenge for the title, but Wenger is unlikely to add four players to the squad this summer.