Arsenal Legend Claims Club Have an Outside Chance of Placing in the Top Four This Season
Arsenal legend Martin Keown has claimed the Gunners have an outside chance of securing a top four finish and a return to Champions League football this season.
The former defender, who made over 400 appearances in all competitions for Arsenal during his time with the club winning 10 major honours, was confident that new boss Unai Emery could turn Arsenal's fortunes around after the last two difficult seasons under long-serving manager Arsene Wenger.
He was quoted by the Sport Review from an interview with BBC Sport, saying: "It will be a really close battle to make the top four; Arsenal and Chelsea will push Manchester United all of the way and have an outside chance of claiming a Champions League place.
“Emery has had longer with his team than anyone else – they’ve largely all been together for the whole of pre-season – and they could potentially cause an upset against City on day one.”
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The north London club have signed five players this summer - adding a mixture of youth and experience - as Emery looks to stamp his mark on the new squad. The 46-year-old Spaniard, who was previously the head coach of Sevilla and Paris Saint-Germain, replaced Wenger who left at the end of the season following a remarkable 22 year run as gaffer.
Experienced Swiss international Stephan Lichtsteiner arrived on a free transfer from Serie A giants Juventus, while goalkeeper Bernd Leno was bought for £20m from Bayer Leverkusen.
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Greek international defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos arrived from Borussia Dortmund as Emery initially focused on addressing defensive concerns, before also adding Lucas Torreira and Lorient youngster Matteo Guendouzi to his squad.
Arsenal will start their Premier League campaign with quite a challenge, as they host defending champions Manchester City at Emirates Stadium. The fans will have to wait and see whether Keown's prediction holds up to the end.
