John Hartson questions if the £135m his former side Arsenal have spent on transfers this summer has actually improved Mikel Arteta’s side after losing comprehensively to Chelsea.
Thomas Tuchel’s Blues ran riot at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday to win 2-0 against their London rivals. The Gunners were second best in most aspects and unable to keep a lid on Romelu Lukaku, as the Belgian enjoyed a field day up against Pablo Mari and Rob Holding.
Arteta named Ben White alongside Mari on the opening day in defeat to Brentford, but was without his £50m signing on Sunday due to a positive Covid-19 test, forcing the Spaniard to draft Holding in to his backline. But neither were able to limit Lukaku’s impact on the game.
Arteta also only named Arsenal’s £30m goalkeeper signing Aaron Ramsdale on the bench after joining from Sheffield United on Friday. While visa requirements meant £34m Martin Odegaard did not play, with £17m Albert Sambi Lokonga the only addition to start.
But Hartson questions if White, Ramsdale and Arteta’s other summer signings have actually improved the quality in the Arsenal side. He took to Twitter after covering the game for Sky Sports News to add:
“Chelsea dominant display, Lukaku will score 30 goals this season. Arsenal spent £135m, question is are they any better than an eighth-place finish like last season?”
The player-turned-pundit changed his question after an Arsenal fan raised the point that neither White nor Odegaard faced Chelsea. Noting: “Ok, I’ll say it this way, would £50m Ben White or £30m Ramsdale have made one bit of difference today? My answer is no. Yours?”
Have Arsenal improved this summer, like Hartson questions after Chelsea loss?
Arsenal’s poor start will put the focus on Arteta’s deals, as Hartson questions. The Gunners had to improve over the summer after ending last term eighth and without European football. And have spent big, with Arsenal the top-flight’s top spenders this summer.
Lokonga was the only one of Arsenal’s summer signings to start against Chelsea on Sunday but could not stop Arteta from suffering a successive defeat to start the season. He showed some promise and consistently called for the ball to try to get things going, yet to no avail.
Fellow arrival Nuno Tavares came on early in the second-half for Kieran Tierney and offered some enthusiasm, too. But like the Scotland defender, struggled to get the better of Reece James. The Chelsea ace enjoying a lot of success on the Gunners’ left channel throughout.
White, meanwhile, missed the Blues clash, but struggled to command the air at Brentford on the opening day. While Odegaard is not a direct improvement on how Arsenal ended last season in eighth, having arrived on loan in January to help Arteta try and turn the tide.
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