EPL TALK: Good news, Arsenal look like proper title contenders

ARSENAL feel like a bit of a palate cleanser as the English Premier League tries to swallow the residue of all that Saudi stuff. While others indulge in a little sportswashing on behalf of oligarchs moving from fossil fuels to fossilised footballers, the Gunners seem almost puritanical in comparison.

No sales to autocratic regimes with dodgy human rights records. No hypocritical hand wringing over local heroes taking foreign petrodollars. No daily demands for a player to stay (like Tottenham Hotspur’s Harry Kane) or go (also Kane). No sackings or coaching shake-ups. No leaked stories. Nothing.

Any more of this and the Gunners will recover the EPL’s reputation. And they’ll give us a title race, a proper one, too, not an artificial one inflated by self-interested parties as Manchester City’s army of Thanoses acquire every infinity stone and wipe out all before them.

This season promises to be a real chase for the jug-eared pot, from start to finish.

What’s more, the North Londoners are taking on their dual roles of EPL standard-bearers and title challengers with remarkable composure. Their calm, transfer activities and assured pre-season preparations almost have us longing for those halcyon days of lightweight mavericks, flaky defences and comic relief. At least we knew where the old Arsenal stood: usually on their backs, down and out and on their way to another self-inflicted implosion.

But Mikel Arteta’s men are all business. Granit Xhaka is out. Declan Rice is in. Kai Havertz plugs an attacking hole and Jurriën Timber adds defensive versatility. Indeed the left-back’s influence in the Community Shield only increased after his departure. His replacement, Kieran Tierney, slipped and allowed Manchester City to take the lead.

Arteta’s understated ruthlessness continues to draw comparisons with former mentor Pep Guardiola. At City, Guardiola had a problem with Joe Hart’s feet. At Arsenal, Arteta may still have a problem with Aaron Ramsdale’s erratic decision-making. Brentford’s David Raya is being considered as a possible replacement, or extra competition at least.

Ramsdale effectively won the Community Shield for Arsenal with key saves, but sentimentality doesn’t win the trophies that matter. Arteta doesn’t need Raya, but wants him anyway to rival City’s strength in depth. The five-point gap from last season still hurts. The Gunners didn’t bottle anything. They lacked reinforcements.

Of course, making snap judgements based upon the Community Shield is like picking a life partner after a blind date. It’s far too early. Suitability needs to be tested in more rigorous circumstances and prettier things usually come along later. And yet, there were undeniable positives at Wembley.

Rice quietly took control of the space in front of the back four, suggesting the price tag will affect apopletic pundits in TV studios more than the marauding anchorman on the pitch. He’ll be just fine, particularly in tight, silverware-defining games against the top four.

The human question mark occasionally known as Havertz will remain Arsenal’s source of amusement and bemusement as Arteta hopes to succeed where Chelsea managers failed. The forward still feels like an existential exam question for philosophy students. What is he? Who is he? What is his purpose to those around him? It’ll be fun to watch Arteta’s search for answers.

Contenders strengthen bid to overthrow Man City

There will be naysayers of course. Churlish comments from Roy Keane and Rio Ferdinand – yep, they’ve gone even earlier this season – ridiculed the Gunners’ giddy celebrations for winning the Community Shield. Such was his indifference to the traditional curtain-raiser, a scoffing Ferdinand couldn’t even remember how many shields he’d won (it’s only four, Rio. It’s not the value of pi.)

A little tribal banter is always welcome, but the Manchester United legends knew what they were doing. Arsenal’s pitch-side partying wasn’t about gaining a winners’ medal, but losing that monkey on the back, or loosening its grip at least. The Gunners hadn’t defeated City in nine successive encounters. The last two effectively cost them the title. These things rankle.

Arteta is in no mood to bow before football’s omnipotent autocrats again. Nor are we. The English Premier League needs another title procession like it needs another cynical exodus to Saudi Arabia. These things rankle, too.

Ironically, one may have prevented the other to a degree. Riyad Mahrez’s sale to Al Ahli leaves a creative gap that may be filled by others, but it ensures uncertainty at least, a rare state of affairs at the Etihad and a straw to clutch for rivals.

There are other straws, too.

Manchester United’s transfer activity looks no less impressive than the Gunners, evoking fuzzy memories of Liverpool’s astute purchases a few years ago, when Alisson Becker and Virgil van Dijk turned also-runs into all-conquerors. Like Alisson, United’s new goalkeeper Andre Onana leads with his feet, Mason Mount provides options in attack and Danish striker Rasmus Hojlund runs like a whippet chasing a bag in the wind. The Red Devils find themselves in the rare position of having an established, cerebral manager with a clear plan, filling round holes with round pegs.

Liverpool have also bought well in central midfield and Chelsea will find greater stability after Mauricio Pochettino’s decluttering exercise (though they couldn’t find any less, could they?)

Frankly, it’s hard to see where the comic relief will come this season, unless the Kane-Tottenham-Bayern Munich "will they, won’t they" love triangle continues to drag along like Ross and Rachel in Friends.

If nothing else, we’ll always have the hapless Hammers. At the time of writing, West Ham still hadn’t signed a single player. Luckily, form isn’t a concern. In their final pre-season friendly, they were thrashed 4-0 by Bayer Leverkusen. Never change, West Ham. Never change.

But the Emirates will not stage The Comedy of Errors for the foreseeable future. While the beguiling Martin Ødegaard and the irrepressible Bukayo Saka compete for individual playing honours, Arsenal will collectively compete for something greater. They may not go all the way. City are still City. But we’ll gladly take a competitive league.

Honestly, we deserve it.

After a pre-season that was essentially hijacked by a foreign state as part of a $7 trillion geopolitical project, it would be nice if the actual season could be just about the football again.

Neil Humphreys is an award-winning football writer and a best-selling author, who has covered the English Premier League since 2000 and has written 28 books.

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