Emirates chiefs have been instructed to significantly strengthen Mikel Arteta's squad in the January transfer window despite Arsenal's barnstorming start to the season.
The Gunners are sitting pretty at the Premier League summit, two points clear of defending-champions Manchester City, after winning 11 of their opening 13 games. They can guarantee they will be top of the table at Christmas by defeating Wolves on Saturday night, after Arteta finally acknowledged his side are in the title race.
Despite the north Londoners' brilliant start, there is growing clamour for the Arsenal hierarchy to invest in January in order to boost their hopes of being crowned champions in May. Highbury hero Ray Parlour would like to see another midfielder and a back-up striker added, while Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand believes Crystal Palace winger Wilfried Zaha would be a great option to add depth on the flanks.
"He'd be good at Arsenal, I think," Ferdinand told his FIVE podcast of Zaha. "At Arsenal, he'd be a good challenge to the two [Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli] that are there and a good option. They should have bought him when they bought [Nicolas] Pepe!"
Meanwhile, speaking on talkSPORT, Parlour earmarked Leicester midfielder Youri Tielemans as an ideal signing as he enters the final six months of his contract at the King Power Stadium. "January will be important for a lot of clubs, we all know that transfer window," Parlour said.
"There might be a bit of money there for Mikel Arteta to say, 'Right, we need another midfielder'. We need a Youri Tielemans, like when they tried to get him before."
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Turning his attention to Arsenal's attack, Parlour added: "They need a back-up striker in case Gabriel Jesus gets injured. I know they've got Eddie Nketiah, but sometimes you need the extra striker who's going to get you the goals to win the league."
Regardless of what happens during the January window, former England midfielder Parlour has been overjoyed by what he has seen from his boyhood club this season. "All I can say about Arsenal is I'm enjoying it, it's great to watch," he concluded. "Every single fan I've spoke to is saying, 'It's great, it's fantastic'.
"And a lot of people were questioning Arteta and whether he was doing the right thing. They were massive decisions he made about [Mesut] Ozil, [Sead] Kolasinac, [Shkodran] Mustafi. That was his first job he had to do and he did it very well.
"Now, he's got a team that are all pulling together, everyone's going the same way. You can see certain players have upped their game as well. [Granit] Xhaka's upped his game, he's been absolutely brilliant this year."
