Former Liverpool midfielder, Xabi Alonso, has confidently predicted that Arsenal will be a strong contender for the Premier League title this season. This comes after his Bayer Leverkusen side suffered a crushing 4-1 defeat at the hands of the Gunners.
Last season saw Arsenal narrowly miss out on glory as they went head-to-head with Manchester City in an intense competition. Despite their commendable performance, they finished runners-up for the second consecutive year.
Modest transfers but strong performance
In response to their near-miss last term, Arsenal has made relatively modest moves in the transfer window so far. Riccardo Calafiori stands as their major addition to the squad this season. Despite these limited new additions, Arsenal demonstrated an impressive performance against reigning Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen. The match ended with a resounding 4-1 victory for Arsenal, thanks to goals from Oleksandr Zinchenko, Leandro Trossard, Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz.
When asked about his views on whether Arsenal would once again be at the forefront of competition this season after witnessing their prowess firsthand during last night's match, Alonso expressed his confidence in them.
Xabi Alonso, Bayer Leverkusen manager, said:
‘First, talking about the game it wasn’t a good performance from our side but not happy but I could be happy that it happened today. For sure it’s going to be wake-up call. This is a new season and we are starting from zero. The standards were way below our normal level. If we don’t raise our standards in games of this level it’s going to be impossible.
‘Arsenal for sure it’s not just last year, they have been creating a project, Mikel is leading a great team at a great club, they are going to be challenging with the big ones for sure. City will be there, Liverpool are coming with other ones as well.’
The former Liverpool and Real Madrid midfielder was clearly impressed by what he saw from Arteta’s men against his own team.
Bouncing back from defeat
After ending their US Tour with a defeat against Liverpool last week, Mikel Arteta - Arsenal manager - was thrilled to see his team bounce back so strongly in front of home fans at Emirates Stadium. This commanding win over Bayer Leverkusen is sure to boost morale within both players and supporters alike as they look forward to another exciting Premier League season.
While it's still early days in the season, Arsenal's recent performance against Bayer Leverkusen has certainly set a high bar. With their current form and Alonso's prediction, it seems that they are poised to be a strong contender for the Premier League title this year.
