Graeme Souness rates Arsenal's Premier League title chances and praises seven players

Graeme Souness has dismissed Arsenal's Premier League title chances this term but has praised seven players. The Gunners have finished on the 8th place of the league table last season, however, making a progress, having already won the FA Cup, the Community Shield versus Liverpool and the first two Premier League matches against Fulham and West Ham United. However, ahead of their third match with newly-crowned champions, Liverpool, Souness has revealed Mikel Arteta's side are "nowhere near" challenging from the Premier League title despite praising seven players, including newcomer Willian. "Arsenal are nowhere near challenging for the Premier League," he wrote in a column for The Times. "They finished eighth, 43 points behind Liverpool, last season, and that’s not a gap that you close in one transfer window. "The knockout tournaments are again their best chance of success this season. Trying to retain the FA Cup, a decent run in Europe and maybe the Carabao Cup. "I’ve always been a fan of Willian and have no fears that he still has a couple of years left at the highest. "The hardest players to get are the ones that score and create goals, but Arsenal have plenty of attacking options. "Willian, Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang are backed up by talented youngsters like Bukayo Saka and Eddie Nketiah. Keeping Aubameyang is a huge boost. "He was entering the last year of his contract, so they would have sold him at a discount and received nowhere near enough to buy a replacement of a similar standard. "I still see a player in Nicolas Pepe, too, and I’m hoping he has a big year because he’s not really grasped the intensity and physicality of the Premier League yet. "I also like the look of Bernd Leno, their goalkeeper, but none of their midfielders or back four would get anywhere near the Manchester City or Liverpool team, hence the points difference between them in the final table last season."

Source: Metro 

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