Premier League Weekly: Do Arsenal have time to save their season after transfer window rebuild?

Arsenal's new signing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)

SO, the season’s transfer business is over.

After a record £430 million was spent by clubs during the transfer window, there are just 13 games left for new signings to make an impact on proceedings.

But at nowhere has the window had a bigger effect than Arsenal and they are the focus of today’s PREMIER LEAGUE WEEKLY.

Do Arsenal have enough time to save their season?

AUGUST and January can be unsettling months at football clubs with the transfer window hanging over them, and nowhere has felt that quite as much as Arsenal this season. Their combined record for those two months is seven points from seven matches. Compare that to the 35 from 18 in the relatively tranquillity of September to December. But the question is why such a big club like Arsenal are doing business in such a haphazard manner.

It is true that the season was not going to plan at the start of January, but despite that manager Arsene Wenger got rid of 293 goals in the shape of Theo Walcott, Olivier Giroud and Alexis Sanchez in one fell swoop. That is not tinkering with the squad, but major reconstructive surgery and it’s unusual for a club like Arsenal to carry it out in the middle of a campaign.

In their place, the Gunners now have Henrik Mkhitaryan who came the other way as Sanchez went to Manchester United and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who has been signed for a club record fee of £56 million. These two were team-mates at Borussia Dortmund and formed part of a lethal front three along with German international Marco Reus. Dortmund scored goals for fun and were brilliant to watch, but Aubameyang collected just one German Cup for his troubles in four-and-a-half-years there. Does that sound familiar to anyone of an Arsenal persuasion?

Aubameyang was a wonderful goalscorer in Germany and he’ll be expected to do the same in North London, but his arrival does not mask the problems Arsenal still have. They have been a soft touch away from home all season with only three wins from 13 matches and their defence and goalkeeper are creaking at the seams, as was highlighted in the miserable 3-1 loss at Swansea on Tuesday. Those issues have again not been addressed.

New signing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang with former Dortmund team mate Henrikh Mkhitaryan at the Arsenal training ground (Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)

Arsenal are currently sixth, but they are eight points behind Liverpool and Chelsea, who occupy the final two top-four berths. They are closer to Burnley in seventh. So it’s going to take an excellent run of form for them to bridge that gap, and so far this campaign, they have not managed more than three consecutive league wins at any stage. A route to the Champions League looks more likely through winning the Europa League, but they would have to negotiate four knockout ties before reaching the final in Lyon in May, starting against Swedish outsiders Ostersunds on February 15.

However, their new star striker won’t be able to play any of those potential European games because he is ineligible with Dortmund also in the competition. That means the burden will fall on the big signing of last summer, Alexandre Lacazette, to produce the fireworks on Thursday nights. If towards April and May, Arsenal have fallen off the pace in the top-four race and they are still going strong in Europe, Aubameyang will be having to do the business in less important league matches, while his understudy will be trying to deliver the main prize.

While the departure of Sanchez became inevitable as he ran down his contract and brought an air of instability to proceedings, there was at least some good news with Mesut Ozil’s decision to sign a new contract this week. The German has agreed a new three-and-a-half year deal worth an estimated £350,000 a week, so no wonder he had a big beaming smile as he put pen to paper. But it’s now time for Ozil to become the Gunners’ on-field leader. We all know the talent Ozil has and I was there to witness his sublime volleyed goal against Newcastle in December, but that needs to become the norm if Arsenal are to turn things around. For all Ozil’s clever passes and assists, critics will point to his disappearing acts in big matches away from home. That must end.

February 3 is an unusual date for a new start in football, but that is what it must be for Arsenal when they welcome Everton tomorrow evening. Two thirds of the campaign has been almost wasted, but they could still win the Carabao Cup later this month and claim the Europa League in May, or even get back into the top four if everything clicks. Time is against them, but everyone at Arsenal has to unite on and off the pitch to pull off what seems an unlikely rescue act.

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Stat of the Day

88.75 – THE cost in millions of Arsenal’s ‘Invincibles’ squad from 2003/04. Their current strike force of Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang cost £102.5 million. No pressure lads!