Arsene can steal a march on Guardiola et al

By 1970's Gooner

This is Arsene's last season on his three year contract. He needs to win something big if he is to either retire in glory (like Sir Alec) or indeed win a new contract. What ever his aim is there is ample motivation for him to pull out all the stops to ensure success. I expect him to do so.

And the fact that he has signed Xhaka who is a midfielder to add to the already existing Coquelin,  Elneny, Ramsey, Wilshere and Cazorla is proof that he wants the best he can get in these positions. Previously he would have made do with the existing midfielders and see the season out finishing in the top four. But this season he knows that he has to be more competitive.

Following the same reasoning I expect him to sign a big name centre forward and probably another centre back who will be groomed to replace Mertesacker when he leaves next season.

Arsene will also be readying himself to take advantage of the tentativeness that is bound to engulf the new big name coaches due to arrive in the PL.

Guardiola will only be arriving in July, is new to the PL and has a mini rebuilding job on his hands. I expect him to need half the season to bed himself and the new arrivals in. By that time Wenger will be planning to be ahead by a number of points.

The same goes for Conte at Chelsea. New to the PL, rebuilding job and will probably be exhausted managing the expectations of the whole of Italy in the Euro.

Klopp is not new to the PL but he has to buy new players and bed them in. I expect Liverpool to fare a little bit better than Chelsea and Man City but not better than Arsenal.

The more dangerous of the lot is Mourinho. He knows the PL well and will probably manage the Man Utd fan expectations satisfactorily. He does however need to surgically rebuild the team with a lot of new additions. He will therefore need time to bed them in ( some will need to get used to the PL) and more importantly to get them to play his way.

The only team that is almost ready to go compared to this lot is Arsenal.