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Arsène Wenger looking to strengthen squad for new season

With the Premier League fixture list having just been released for the 2016/17 season, our attention has immediately turned to what Arsène Wenger has planned for next season's title challenge. Despite finishing second to Leicester City, last season was incredibly frustrating for us at the Emirates and we were behind Tottenham for large parts of it.

The usual frailties resurfaced – no world class striker to finish off the plethora of chances made by Mesut Özil, and a lack of character in central midfield. The latter of those problems should at least be partly sorted by the signing of Granit Xhaka from Borussia Monchengladbach – he is the club’s third most expensive signing ever.

Other transfer targets are reported to include N’golo Kanté of Leicester City and France – who had a remarkable first season in England – and club-mate Jamie Vardy. Wenger is reported to be willing to meet his buyout clause of around £20m, but as of yet he has not decided which club he would prefer to be at. Leicester’s historic first attempt in the Champions League may be too much for the Englishman to turn down. But we need to act swiftly if he does reject us and find a suitable replacement, such as Alvaro Morata.

For the new campaign, Coral is one of the best places for football odds for fans who think the club will finally succeed in the league. Looking ahead to the pick of next season, our club are rated at 5/1 to win our first Premier League title since 2004. We are third favourites behind Manchester City (9/4) and United (9/2). Coral have betting options and football odds for all Premier League games throughout the season, which begins on 13th August.

We begin by hosting Liverpool, in what is the standout game of the opening weekend. We are at 10/11 to win the game at home, whilst the visitors are rated 5/2 - though Jurgen Klopp is expected to spend big in the transfer market beforehand.

Wenger will have a difficult time in winning another league title unless he heavily invests in the spine of his squad, and replaces people such as Mikel Arteta and Tomas Rosicky who left on free transfers. He will also be aware of the challenge that faces him in the upcoming season because of the managerial merry-go-round. Antonio Conte takes charge at Chelsea, whilst Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho are the new managers of Manchester City and United respectively.

Despite the influx of new managerial talent entering the Premier League, this could be seen as an opportunity for us to take advantage of teams that are in transition. The one constant in the Premier League for the last 20 years has been the unmistakable figure of Arsene Wenger on the touchline, first at Highbury but now the Emirates stadium. With the signing of Xhaka, the boss showed that he was willing to break his reputation for being cautious in the transfer window. Just last season, he failed to sign any outfield players in the summer window, but he appears to have learnt his lesson.

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Tags: Arsene Wenger, Transfers, Arsenal summer transfer window

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