The Premier League Panel: Did Arsenal do well enough in the transfer window to challenge Man City?

Which teams did the best business this summer, and who signed all the wrong players? Join The Premier League Panel to find out.

Transcript

00:00I was going to ask you as well, Rich, about Arsenal, because I sort of got the feeling

00:03that in the last couple of years, when they have come pretty close to challenging Man City,

00:06it was only two points the gap last year. It felt to me, first of all, that they really needed a

00:11proper central striker. I know Kai Havertz has played pretty well there, Gabriel Jesus has his

00:16qualities, but they haven't got a player who's going to score 20, 25 goals. They haven't got

00:20even half a Haaland. And there's also that feeling that they're really reliant on players like

00:24Bakayo Saka, like Martin Odegaard. And you think if one of those goes down, if one of them gets

00:30injured, where's the replacement? And so I think they've sort of signed players, like Mourinho,

00:34as Kurti said, really good player. Calafiore is a good player. Raheem Sterling, we know what he can

00:38do at his best. But do you think they've still sort of, you know, missed a trick themselves by

00:41sort of not signing a bit more depth up front? I do, yeah. I think that if you look at that gap

00:46between them and City from last season, the season before that as well, there is just that

00:51Erling Haaland-shaped hole. And it would be hypocritical of us to say, well, imagine City

00:56without Haaland. Like you said, imagine Arsenal without Saka or Odegaard. They're a completely

01:00different outfit as well. So I do feel they are just missing that man up front, the main go-to

01:06guy. And I know they get goals from all over the pitch. They chip in better than most other teams

01:10do. But you look at that team, you think, imagine if they had like a Viktor Osman up top, someone

01:15who is just a goal-getter, that predator in the box. So I still feel that Man City are just,

01:23they are as good as they were last season. Arsenal are a bit better, but I still think there is that

01:29little golfing class when everyone's fit. And I think City still have the edge because they have

01:33got that goal scorer that Arsenal don't have. Yeah. I mean, it was only two points on the

01:38table, but it still feels like a decent sort of gap they've got to make up.