Sport
Arsenal can no longer justify ‘big six’ tag
Brentford deserved their 2-0 win over Arsenal on opening night of the 2021/22 Premier League season. This, however, wasn’t the most damning thing about the result for Mikel Arteta’s side. What was most reflective of the situation Arsenal find themselves in right now was that so many predicted this outcome and are questioning their standing as a member of the so-called big six.
Even accounting for the absence of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette, the XI that lined up against newly-promoted Brentford last Friday night was the weakest ever fielded by the Gunners for the opening fixture of a Premier League season. Arsenal used to be targeted for their weak mentality, but now their team is just as weak on paper.
There is still time for Arteta and the recruitment staff at the Emirates Stadium to address this but, once again, the bulk of the club’s business has been left until late in a transfer window. There needed to be an overhaul in personnel at Arsenal ahead of the 2021/22 season to give them a chance of progress and that hasn’t happened.
As things stand, Arsenal are at real risk of being cut adrift from their big six rivals, all of whom have made significant moves this summer to improve. Manchester City, who finished 25 points ahead of the Gunners last season, have added Jack Grealish to their squad while Manchester United have signed Jadon Sancho and Raphael Varane.
Liverpool addressed a clear squad deficiency by signing French centre back Ibrahima Konate from RB Leipzig, with Chelsea spending £98m to capture Romelu Lukaku from Inter, as if Thomas Tuchel’s team wasn’t already strong enough having won the Champions League title only a few months ago.
Even Tottenham Hotspur, who started pre-season without a manager, have made recent strides to improve on last season’s seventh-place finish, starting their campaign with an impressive 1-0 win over City. This result and performance proved that Nuno Espirito Santo is already reshaping Spurs in his own image with Cristian Romero and Bryan Gil still to be integrated.
Worse than this for Arsenal, Leicester City also look to have strengthened following the signing of Patson Daka from Red Bull Salzburg. Daka had been linked with a move to the Emirates Stadium, but decided the King Power Stadium was the best place for him to take the next step in his career. Given the recent trajectory of Arsenal and Leicester City, his decision can be easily justified.
At this point, owing in particular to the demise of Arsenal, the ‘Big Six’ tag stands as a relic of a bygone age. It might still refer to the size of the Premier League’s six biggest clubs but it no longer represents the six best teams in the division. Arsenal’s eighth-place finish last season was a true reflection of their standing. In fact, it was a better outcome than many anticipated given how dismal the Gunners were in the first half of the campaign.
Rather than clawing their way back to the top of the English and European game, Arsenal are slipping further and further away from that standard with every passing season. The club finds itself at a critical juncture in its recent history. There will come a point at which the gulf between Arsenal and those at the top of the Premier League becomes unbridgeable.
Fresh from defeat on opening night, Arsenal are now looking over their shoulder as much as they are looking forward. Ambitious clubs like Aston Villa and Leeds United could feasibly leapfrog the Gunners this season as the gap to the top grows bigger and bigger. The big six might still exist but it has nothing to do with what’s on the pitch and, if it does, Leicester City have now replaced Arsenal in there.
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