Can Arsenal realistically challenge Chelsea next season?

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger needs to make the right summer signings for his team to win the title next season

Arsenal all-but confirmed their place in the Champions League with a 3-1 victory at relegation-threatened Hull City on Monday night.

The win also took the Gunners level on points with second-place Manchester City. Arsene Wenger’s side also have a game in-hand.

Form

The Gunners form since the turn of the year has been exceptional, as they have now won nine out of their last ten Premier League games, with only champions Chelsea avoiding defeat against the men from north London in that run.

That fine run of form has encouraged Gunners fans, players and staff to truly believe they can challenge Chelsea for the Premier League title next season.

Challengers

At the start of every season Arsenal are considered as prospective challengers for the Premier League title. However at the start of this campaign they were only considered as outsiders, after experiencing a dip in form towards the end of the campaign.

Wenger’s side looked like title certainties for much of the campaign, yet poor form led to the Gunners even facing a fight for a Champions League spot with Everton.

Whether the Gunners can realistically challenge for the Premier League title depends on a lot of factors.

One of the key factors will be the quality of the Gunners signings this summer. Wenger has confirmed that he will only consider ‘world-class’ players as signings this summer.

That could mean good news for Arsenal faithful, as the team from north London really does need an injection of world-class talent this summer. The only player in the current Arsenal squad that could currently be considered world-class is Alexis Sanchez.

German playmaker Mesut Ozil would probably argue differently, but the former Real Madrid star has been inconsistent in his two seasons in north London.

One of the other factors is how well Chelsea and their other rivals Manchester City and Manchester United strengthen in the summer. If as expected their rivals heavily strengthen, then the Gunners would have to follow suit just to keep up.

Arsenal are in a strong financial position, but are on not on the same level as Chelsea or Manchester City, who have owners with seemingly bottomless pockets.

Ironically though, Chelsea’s outlay on star pair Cesc Fabregas and Diego Costa last summer was offset by selling players and they are likely to be in a position to spend big this summer yet again and still comply with Financial Fair Play rules in the process.

Spine

A lot has been said about the importance of having a good spine to a team in recent weeks. It is nothing new title winning sides have also had quality down the spine of the team.

Sky pundit and former-Manchester United defender Gary Neville recently alluded to the importance of the Gunners improving the spine of their team.

Obviously this season Chelsea have had John Terry, Nemanja Matic and Diego Costa down the spine of their team and they have been key players in their title triumph.

Arsenal’s spine of Laurent Koscielny, Francis Coquelin and Olivier Giroud is not on quite the same level as their Chelsea counterparts. However, it is hard signing players of the same calibre as the Blues trio.

It is not impossible though, if the Gunners are once again willing to spend big this summer. To buy quality and improve the spine of the Arsenal team then Arsene Wenger needs to get the club chequebook out once again.

Contenders

Arsenal impressive form in 2015 is hard to ignore and no doubt they will be contenders to win the Premier League title next season and probably be considered far more dangerous going into next season than they were going into this campaign.

The Gunners are renowned for playing good football and are considered to be one of the most attractive teams to watch in the Premier League. Next season Gunners fans will be hoping that the attractive football is finally turned into title winning football.

Can Arsenal realistically challenge Chelsea next season?