The Premier League season may be only four games old, but two supposed contenders should be very worried they have yet to show themselves to be offensively competent.
Last year’s third- and fourth-place teams, Arsenal and Manchester United, have managed to score just three goals apiece in the season’s opening weeks. A return of less than one goal per game is bad enough for any team hoping to challenge for the title, but both squads also owe one of their tallies to opposing defenders.
The problem — and solution — for both teams is simple, and it’s been clear since before the season: They both are in desperate need of a top-line striker.
Sixth-place Arsenal’s current main option, Olivier Giroud, has scored 42 goals in his three-plus seasons with the London club (including a beauty in Week 2) but has never proven himself nearly reliable enough. Last year, the club brought in the currently-injured Danny Welbeck, a promising young England national who was never able to make the grade at Manchester United — which has proven to be the case at Arsenal, as well.
Fifth-place Manchester United find themselves with only one real option up front: team captain Wayne Rooney. The best goal scorer England has produced in more than a generation, the striker hasn’t scored over his past 10 EPL games, easily one of the worst droughts of his career. He did snag a hat trick during the team’s Champions League qualifier last Wednesday, but Belgian opponent Club Brugge probably couldn’t crack the EPL’s top 10. Rooney’s one senior backup coming into the season, Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez, is no longer with the team, having been shipped out to Bayern Leverkusen on Monday, days after he missed a penalty and then a wide open shot on goal against Club Brugge.
These glaring issues make it that much more puzzling that neither team has brought in a proven goal scorer this summer. Though both Arsenal and Manchester United have been linked with a number of Europe’s top offensive threats — Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema and Lyon’s Alexandre Lacazette, just to name two — the rumors have come to nothing.
United came close to adding former Barcelona star Pedro, but lost out to Chelsea at the last minute. Of course, the team claims they chose not to proceed with a deal.
On Monday, United was reported to be on the brink of completing a massive $55.5 million deal for French phenom Anthony Martial, but the 19-year-old is more of a long-term solution, not a plug-and-play fix, even if he is the next Theirry Henry.
Fortunately for both teams, they have other players on their rosters who have proven capable of putting the ball in the back of the net. Arsenal’s Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil and Manchester United’s Juan Mata and Ander Herrera will score and set up their fair share, but neither club can be expected to reaching its full potential without a top-level striker.
There’s a chance that both teams, especially Arsenal, could add someone new before the transfer deadline closes at 1 p.m. EST on Tuesday. But more than trades in American sports, transfers take time to develop in European soccer, and it’s not unusual to see rumors turn into sagas that last months or seasons at a time. Anyone likely to be available is going to cost an exorbitant amount — just look at how much United are playing for Martial. While managers Arsene Wenger and Louis van Gaal might have something up their sleeves, the clock is ticking.
The more likely option is the teams will look inward to find a solution to their goal droughts. They’re going to have find those solutions quick, otherwise any chance they have at a challenging for the title might be gone come November, especially since Manchester City — possessor of the league’s best offense, with 10 goals in the opening weeks — just added another elite scoring threat in last year’s Bundesliga player of the year Kevin DeBruyne
Parity comes to the EPL
While Manchester City is the clear class of the league as the first month comes to an end, there are more interesting, unexpected names in second through fourth places: Crystal Palace, Leicester and Swansea.
Crystal Palace and Swansea had reason to be hopeful entering the season. After proving they could hang with the league’s best last season, they could view qualifying for next year’s Europa League — which goes to the teams that finish in fifth and sixth — as a reasonable goal. That’s still the case, and both teams have marked some of the season’s biggest victories during the first month. Crystal Palace got a well-deserved 2-1 victory over Chelsea on Saturday. Swansea, who rallied to draw Chelsea in Week One, beat Manchester United via the same scoreline on Sunday.
Even more shocking, though, is Leicester, the league’s third-place team. Over the past six months, the team rallied to keep its spot in the Premier League, cut three players after they were embroiled in a racist scandal and fired their manager just weeks before the season kicked off. Many, including this writer, pegged the team for relegation this season, but they’ve been one of the most fluid and exciting teams in the early weeks.
Goal of the Week
A week after scoring a hat trick in Bournemouth’s first EPL win, striker Callum Wilson put in a strike that put those three goals to shame on Saturday (0:31 mark of the video). The 23-year-old scored from an audacious overhead kick in traffic to open up the scoring in Bournemouth’s 1-1 draw with Leicester. Having scored 20 goals in the Championship last year, Wilson is showing little difficulty in acclimating to a new division.
Card of the Week
Even though four other players were given their marching orders this week — West Ham’s Mark Noble has every reason to be miffed at his straight red — no one was more deserving than Stoke’s Charlie Adams. If you stomp on someone (1:00 mark), even if it’s within 10 minutes of one of your teammates (Ibrahim Afellay) being sent off for slapping an opposing player, you have to expect to sent off. Manager Mark Hughes was livid at the referee’s decision, but there was only one person deserving of his anger.