Arsenal travel to Stamford Bridge tonight (Wednesday), battling it out against Chelsea in a must-win Premier League clash. The north Londoners got off to the worst possible start this season, losing their opening three league fixtures - failing to score a single goal in the process.
Despite their rocky start, Mikel Arteta's side were able to steady the ship and win 17 of their next 25 league outings, a run of form that helped them become heavy favourites to finish top four ahead of the likes of Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur.
However, injuries to Kieran Tierney and Thomas Partey have coincided with a huge dip in form, with the Gunners losing each of their last three matches, falling to Crystal Palace, Brighton and most recently, Southampton. Now, they will be desperate to get bet to winning ways when they take on Thomas Tuchel's men in west London.
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The Blues are the reigning champions of Europe having won last season's UEFA Champions League, an impressive feat considering they have done so with a much lower recent net spend than Arsenal. A recent study conducted by both 90min and CIES Football Observatory emerged on Reddit, showing that the Gunners have spent a whopping €583million (£485million) since the 2012/13 season.
That ranks them fifth amongst clubs in Europe's top five leagues whilst only Manchester United, Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona have a higher net spend in that time. Chelsea (£344million) and Liverpool (£289million) rank 10th and 14th, respectively, highlighting Arsenal's poor transfer dealings in recent years.
The north London outfit have overpaid for the likes of Ivorian winger Nicolas Pepe (£72million) whilst big-money moves for Alexandre Lacazette (£52million) and Shkodran Mustafi (£35million) have not gone to plan. Similarly, the club's ability to sell their assets has come under increasing scrutiny under current technical director Edu.
He has allowed the likes of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Mustafi, Mesut Ozil and Aaron Ramsey to leave for nothing, despite the quartet costing the club in excess of £130million in transfer fees when they joined. The Brazilian transfer chief could be set for another busy window this summer and he must quickly improve on his negotiating skills for the Gunners to be efficient in the market.
football.london understands that Arteta and Co are keen to sign at least one centre-forward this summer given Eddie Nketiah and Alexandre Lacazette are into the final three months of their contracts at the Emirates Stadium, whilst a central midfielder and potentially a full-back will also be targeted.
