Ray Parlour downplays Arsenal’s title prospects under Unai Emery

Arsenal legend Ray Parlour believes the Gunners may not come close to the Premier League title under Unai Emery owing to the vast investment being made by some of their rivals. The north London giants have recently entered into a new era with Emery being picked to succeed Arsene Wenger as their next head coach.

Speaking to TalkSPORT, Parlour was asked whether his former club could compete for the title, to which he replied: “I would love him to do it, but I’m going to say no.I think Man City are going to get stronger and stronger, and I think Pep Guardiola is going to stick around.I can’t see who’s going to challenge them.Top four is going to be important [for Arsenal].They’ve got to get back into the Champions League, so, for me, top four will be a very successful season. Unless there’s massive investment, the same as at Man City, [they’ll never win the league].”

Manchester City cruised towards the Premier League crown last season after spending nearly £300m on fresh recruits and the Citizens are now being tipped to defend their title regardless of their transfer business this summer. As such, Emery finds himself in a difficult position at Arsenal with plenty of areas to improve and finishing in the top four would surely be considered as a good achievement in his first season in charge.

Meanwhile, the Gunners are yet to make any sort of signing for the summer but the emphasis is clearly on bolstering the central defensive department after they leaked 51 goals during the previous campaign. The tally was the Gunners’ worst in over 30 years and Emery needs to find a solution to this problem, if the club are to compete for a top-four spot next term. Prior to any arrivals, Emery may seek to offload some of the club’s underperforming defenders and Shkodran Mustafi has been earmarked as one of those.