Huge bid for Mbappe, Gunners eyeing Douglas Luiz hijack, Pepe latest

Why the Gunners didn’t win the title

Pundit Graeme Souness reckons a little more experience, belief and bottle would have given Arsenal the title last season.

Instead, Manchester City retained the crown and the former Scotland stalwart expects them to win five titles in six seasons.

Pundit Souness toldSky Bet Fan Hope Survey: Arsenal would have won the league if they had a little more experience and belief in difficult times.

“When you look at Arsenal last year, they didn’t have league winners in their team when they were way ahead.

– There were those who would not have believed the situation they were in when they looked at the league table on Monday and saw that they were 10 points behind.

“Going into that stretch, City just said to themselves, ‘Let’s win this game, and at the end of the day Arsenal are looking over their shoulder so much, their focus is going to come off the game,’ and that’s exactly what happened, Arsenal bottled it up.”

Souness added: “Now has that hurt them or added incentive to go and dig deeper?

“The signing of Declan Rice will improve them, it’s just a question of how much improvement there has been, but City are still a team to catch.”

Souness tips City to lift ‘bottlers’ Arsenal again

Graeme Souness is tipping Manchester City to retain the title after accusing Arsenal of “bottling” it last season.

The former Liverpool midfielder believes the champions have the “strongest squad” and “best group of players I’ve ever known in the Premier League”.

Despite Pep Guardiola’s men pipping the Gunners to the top of the 2022-23 table by five points, Souness still believes Arsenal blew it.

The expert does not believe that the top flight is becoming a “one trick pony”.

But he toldSky Bet Fan Hope Survey City have “the best players and its best players who win leagues.

“I think it will be the same challenger this year, that Arsenal will challenge City.”

Noah’s AC is not heading to the Emirates

RB Salzburg forward Noah Okafor is set to join AC Milan after previously being linked with Arsenal.

Transfer guru Fabrizio Romano believes the Switzerland star, 23, is close to joining the Italian giants.

The Gunners are reportedly considering bringing in another frontman.

But it seems that their interest in Okafor – introduced back in March – has waned.

Gunners and Spurs battle for Luiz

Tottenham and Arsenal are reportedly battling for Villa midfielder Douglas Luiz.

The Gunners rejected a bid for the Brazilian last summer but are said to be keen to rekindle their interest.

Mikel Arteta will have to swallow his pride if he is to return to the 25-year-old to improve his midfield options.

The club have brought in 105m man Declan Rice but may be looking for more squad depth following the departure of GranitXhaka.

Brighton like Balogun

Brighton have reportedly joined a long list of clubs with an eye on Arsenal’s Folarin Balogun.

The 22-year-old United States international had a sensational time with Ligue 1 side Reims last season, scoring 21 times in the league.

Inter Milan are said to be preparing an offer, but the Gunners have slapped a mega 50 million price tag on their striker.

Such a high value can take Premier League money out of Mikel Arteta’s hands.

Fortunately for Arsenal CBS Sports report that Brighton, West Ham and Crystal Palace are all interested in Balogun.

If the north London club could ignite a bidding war, they might be able to pocket their asking price.

Mik for me

Arsenal are reportedly interested in signing Bayern Munich midfielder Joshua Kimmich.

According to a Spanish newspaper Brand Arsenal are among several clubs keeping an eye on the German.

They would face stiff competition if they tried to convince the 28-year-old to move to North London.

Both Barcelona and Liverpool are also said to be interested as they look for new midfield reinforcements.

Mikel Arteta wants to replace Granit Xhaka, who left the Emirates Stadium to join Bayer Leverkusen.