Arsenal step into their second season with Unai Emery at helm and the Gunners have recruited six new faces over the summer and they are well place to improve on back of their stroller 2018-19 campaign, atleast according to their former skipper Thomas Vermaelen.
Raul Sanllehi has shown that his Arsenal can compete with all the top European clubs in the transfer window once again, most notably bringing in highly rated flanks-man Nicolas Pepe from Lille for a record £72 million ($88m).
The North London based club also managed to bring in the likes of David Luiz, Kieran Tierney, Gabriel Martinelli and Dani Ceballos on loan from Real Madrid, with William Saliba signing a deal with the club before heading back to France on loan to Saint Etienne for further development and considerable game-time.
Unai Emery’s side has picked up seven points from their first four fixtures for the new season, securing cent record against Newcastle & Burnley before losing out to Liverpool at Anfield and drawing Spurs at the Emirates.
Thomas Vermaelen, who played for Arsenal between 2009 and 2014 before leaving for Barcelona, has been impressed by the impact Unai has had on Arsenal and expects them to improve after one of the best summer window in years.
“Arsenal have improved with the players they got in the summer. I think they did a good job in the transfer market,” Vermaelen, who plays alongside Andres Iniesta and former Gunner Lukas Podolski at Vissel Kobe told Sky Sports.
“It’s a new Arsenal but it doesn’t mean it is going to be worse than last season or difficult now.
“Of course, a few players have to adapt but I think there is a good manager there (Unai Emery) who wants to play football. I expect them to do better than last year.”
The Gunners finished fifth in the Premier League last season after dip in form at the conclusive moments of the campaign, narrowly missing out on a place in the Champions League.
And they are tipped to launch another bid for a top four finish but this time round they will also be aiming to go one better in the Europa League after losing out to Chelsea in the 2019’s finale.
Arsenal find themselves sitting fifth going into the international break with a trip to Watford up next on September 15 before Emery & Co. turn their attention for Europa League’s opener against Eintracht Frankfurt four days later.
