Arsenal's friendly loss to Chelsea showed three more signings Mikel Arteta has to make - 7M sport

Arsenal's friendly loss to Chelsea showed three more signings Mikel Arteta has to make

Arsenal have made three signings so far this summer but Mikel Arteta still has plenty of work to do after the 2-1 loss to Chelsea.


Posted Monday, August 02, 2021 by Express.co.uk

Arsenal have spent over £70million on new signings so far in this window but today's friendly against Chelsea proved they cannot rest on their laurels yet. On the face of it, Ben White, Albert Sambi Lokonga and Nuno Tavares look like good signings by the Gunners. White only completed his £50m move on Friday but came off the bench to play the second 45 minutes for the visit of the Blues.

White, at 23, has to be a success for Arsenal after becoming the club's most-expensive defender of all time.

The centre-back has proved at Leeds, Brighton and his couple of appearances for England the potential he has.

Sambi Lokonga has also stood out in pre-season but at the age of 21 should not be expected to start the majority of Premier League games just yet.

Tavares is a back-up for Kieran Tierney and Arsenal fans will be hoping that's all he is, as it would mean the Scot remains injury-free.

Arsenal's friendly loss to Chelsea showed three more signings Mikel Arteta has to make
Arsenal transfer news: Mikel Arteta needs to make further signings after the Chelsea friendly

But there is still plenty of work left to do for Mikel Arteta and technical director Edu.

Calum Chambers started against Chelsea at right-back and Arsenal surely cannot head into the season with him as their first-choice in that position.

Hector Bellerin remains a target for Inter Milan after telling Arteta he wants to leave.

Cedric Soares is also in contention but Arsenal must look for better if they want to compete for Champions League qualification places again.

Rumours over signing a right-back have gone quiet of late but that must change before the window shuts at the end of the month.

Chelsea got at the Arsenal defence far too often, which should be a concern for Arteta.

The midfield looked porous, even before Thomas Partey limped off with an ankle injury.

Arteta will be praying there is no serious damage done to Partey, who has impressed many in pre-season so far.

Mohamed Elneny started alongside Partey in midfield and is a serious contender to start against Brentford in 12 days' time.

Speculation over Granit Xhaka's future remains despite him coming off the bench to equalise.

It appears signing another midfielder must be high on the agenda.

Arsenal created a number of their own chances but were wasteful at times against a makeshift Chelsea defence.

Alexandre Lacazette started as the central striker but he looked particularly ineffective.

Like Xhaka, speculation continues around the future of Lacazette and Arsenal need to decide what they are doing long term.

Lautaro Martinez continues to be linked and Tammy Abraham reminded the Gunners of his quality after latching onto a mistake from Bellerin to score Chelsea's second.

Arsenal have had a relatively successful transfer window to date but today's match against Thomas Tuchel's depleted side proved it cannot finish yet.



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