Five Big Questions For Your Club: Will Arsenal cope without a 20-goal-a-season striker? How can Mikel Arteta keep his full squad happy? And can the Gunners FINALLY beat Man City to the title?

After the last two seasons they've had, Arsenal fans will be counting down the days until the new campaign with some permutation of the phrase 'this is our year' echoing through their minds. 

Twice the Gunners have pushed Manchester City to the dying embers of the season, twice they have been pipped to the line, largely by their own doing, in as many years in gut-wrenching fashion. 

This year, though, the north London outfit will feel is their chance, having learned from the blows of the last two campaigns and solidified in midfield and at the back over the previous two summers. 

There are, of course, still question marks. Where is the 20-goal striker? Do they need a more resolute option at No 6? How can Mikel Arteta keep so many top-quality defenders happy?

Here, Mail Sport's ISAAN KHAN runs the rule over the five big questions still hovering around Arsenal just days out from their season opener against Wolves.   

Do Arsenal have the ability to keep their levels high across the whole season?

It’s the million dollar question. Arsenal were leading the way to the title before their April implosion handed it to Manchester City in the 2022-23 season.

And then, a season later, the Gunners bounced back from three December defeats — to West Ham, Fulham and Aston Villa — to close in on the title once again. But, again, they faltered right near the finish line, this time because of a Villa defeat.

So Arsenal have shown for two consecutive years that they have the ability and nerve to be the best team in England. It is an isolated prolonged slump in both campaigns which has been their downfall.

Overcoming this is where the keys to everything else lie.

Can Arsenal again cope without a 20-goal-a-season striker?

The calls from fans for the Gunners to sign a striker have long rung loudly. They were particularly deafening last year.

Though not as prominent, the pleas for a forward are still circulating around some quarters.

It is not a priority of Mikel Arteta’s. A striker is nowhere near the top of his list. Bolstering his defence is, which is why Riccardo Calafiori was signed.

You can understand Arsenal and Arteta’s rationale. In the previous campaign, 91 goals were scored — the club’s highest tally since the 1952-53 campaign.

They were struck by 17 different players. That is impressive. It was the December slump that cost the Gunners the title, not squarely the lack of a striker.

So yes, they can cope without a Erling Haaland-esque goalscorer in their ranks. It would be nice to have one, though.

How will Mikel Arteta keep his full squad happy?

This is particularly relevant when it comes to the defence. With the inclusion of £42million signing Calafiori, Arsenal have a number of young defenders who will be itching for game time — which could well be scarce for some of them.

William Saliba, Gabriel and Ben White form the core of the backline, but then there’s the likes of Calafiori, Jurrien Timber, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Jakub Kiwior vying for a spot, too.

At the other end, Arteta has a difficult balancing act to play between Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard. Martinelli scored 15 goals in the 22-23 season, which formed a big part of Arsenal’s title challenge, but did not hit the same heights last season — he was largely a substitute for the latter part of it.

Meanwhile, Trossard has been the go-to man of late, scoring nine in the last 18 league games.

How the Spaniard manages both aspects is important for team morale.

Will academy starlets such as Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly be given a shot in the first team?

As widely commented upon, Arteta does not often given his youngsters a shot in the first team.

This particularly came to the fore in the dead-rubber Champions League match against PSV Eindhoven in December, where Nwaneri and Reuell Walters travelled to Eindhoven but didn’t come off the bench.

Whether the academy starlets play or not won’t be conditional on Arsenal’s success this season, barring mass injuries in the squad. But when it comes to the futures of Nwaneri and Lewis-Skelly, that is a different matter.

Both need to feel there is a pathway to the first team. Otherwise, they could follow in the footsteps of their ex-academy team-mates such as Amario Cozier-Duberry and Walters by leaving.

Can Arsenal win the Premier League this time and, if so, why?

Yes, they certainly can. Arsenal boast the statistically best defence in the league; a midfield containing both Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard; an attack which has goals on both wings via Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard; and a manager in Mikel Arteta who has now proven himself in England and Europe.

It is a potent recipe – if they can avoid a prolonged lapse, as mentioned above.

Third time lucky? It just may well be.