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It’s been a strange week for the Gunners, agonisingly losing the North London derby before beating the champions at the Emirates. Amongst the games we’ve seen Kieran Tierney awarded Arsenal’s Player of the Month award, Maitland-Niles push for an exit, Arteta giving a public message to the board and Mavropanos sign a new contract and head out on loan for next season.

On Monday, Arsenal announced that Kieran Tierney has won Arsenal’s Player of the Month award for June, a well-deserved accolade. The Scotsman has been terrific since the restart, playing as both a left sided centre back and a left wing back over the past month. Tierney’s early period with Arsenal was plagued with injury, limiting him to a handful of Premier League starts and a number of cup outings, during which we saw glimpses of Tierney’s potential. The lockdown period gave Tierney time to return to full fitness and Arsenal have benefitted greatly from his presence in the team with his tenacity and spirit, something not seen by many Arsenal defenders in recent years. Tierney’s humility and dedication to his craft have made him a fan favourite at Arsenal. His whole persona is minimal and simplistic, he shops at Tesco, he wears a black Adidas tracksuit most days, he only really goes out to go to training and this simplistic approach is evident in his game. The biggest priority for Tierney is defending and he showed this by throwing himself at the ball in the dying moments of the Liverpool game to ensure the ball was cleared up field. In recent years we’ve seen Arsenal ‘defenders’ on occasion be tentative or duck out of a challenge but Tierney’s biggest focus is on getting the ball clear. In attack he also has a simple approach, he hugs the touchline in order to ensure he’s always an option, he either passes the ball quickly on his first or second touch to keep the tempo of the play moving or he quickly looks to beat his defender on the outside and whip a cross into the box. This type of mentality is exactly what Arsenal fans want to see from their players and June’s Player of the Month winner vindicates that.

On Tuesday night, The Athletic's David Ornstein reported that Ainsley Maitland-Niles has requested to leave the club this summer. Despite rising up through the academy, Maitland-Niles feels that there has been a lack of trust from Arteta and his sporadic appearances as a full back or wing back have now caused him to push for a move. The 22 year old has made 14 starts in the Premier League this season, all at right back, with 5 substitute appearances, all under Arteta, as mostly a wing back. With the fitness issues of Hector Bellerin over the past few seasons, Maitland-Niles has been a useful deputy due to his athleticism and versatility. It has long been Maitland-Niles’ desire to play in central midfield and it seems hard to justify him a spot in the Arsenal midfield currently, despite the lack of depth and quality in that position. Looking at a player in a similar position a few years ago, Oxlade-Chamberlain was settling in as a right wing back at Arsenal before pushing for a transfer in order to play in midfield. Taking the overall success of Liverpool out of the equation, Oxlade-Chamberlain has started just 19 Premier League games in central midfield in the 3 years since he joined. Since he was a better player than Maitland-Niles at the time he left, it’s difficult to see how and where Maitland-Niles will prosper in central midfield but it’s something he is adamant to try and Arsenal will surely honour this wish. Whilst it is a shame to part ways with an academy graduate, the fact is that Maitland-Niles is expendable and in a transfer window where Arsenal need money, now more than ever, it makes sense to sell.

(Credit: Sky Sports)

Following Arsenal’s unlikely victory over Liverpool, Arteta was asked about the upcoming transfer window in his interview with Sky Sports. He was asked if he had the necessary finances to which he responded: “I don’t know” before following up by saying it is a “big concern.” In the wake of a euphoric victory against the champions, this send a public message to the board that Arteta is getting everything he can out of his current group of players and that he need to be backed in the market in order to add quality to the squad. Whilst Arsenal’s young squad is likely to improve year on year alongside Arteta’s managerial skills, the game against Liverpool highlighted a huge gulf between the two sides and a gap that will only be made up with new “quality quality” players. It’s clear that Arteta has improved the team since joining the club but it’s also clear he needs a lot of help and by coming out publically looking for support, he has placed the onus on the Arsenal board to help move the club forward. Whilst transfer budgets and player prices will be generally low relative to previous seasons, Arsenal have players such as Guendouzi, Maitland-Niles and Kolasinac who are all expendable in order to raise funds or provide makeweights in swap deals – something Arteta is open to. Fans will now look to the board to see what awaits.

On Thursday morning, Arsenal announced that Konstantinos Mavropanos has signed a new contract and will be joining Sven Mislintat’s project at VfB Stuttgart. The Greek defender spent the second half of the 2019/20 season with Bundesliga 2 side Nuremberg, making 12 appearances and saving them from relegation. Looking to build on this successful loan spell, Mavropanos will now get the chance to experience the top flight of German football. Since joining from PAS Giannina in January 2018, Mavropanos has made just 8 appearances in the Arsenal first team and has had a mixed bag of performances when he has been on the field. With Arsenal needing a clear out and clarity at centre back, loaning out Mavropanos seems a good deal for all parties, giving him the chance to experience a higher level of football and allowing time to sort out the centre back situation at Arsenal without selling him prematurely. Given that Mislintat scouted Mavropanos when he was at Arsenal, it should be expected that he gets an ample amount of opportunities in Germany to showcase his talents and the worst that comes of the loan is that Mavropanos is sold next summer to raise further funds for a rebuild.

With some uncertainty over summer spending, all Arteta can do now is focus on finishing the season well and making Arsenal as attractive of an offer to potential players as possible. That starts with the club’s 30th FA Cup semi-final on Saturday against favourites Manchester City. The win at Liverpool offered a dress rehearsal for this game and Arsenal do have a good record at Wembley so we’ll be hoping for some of the magic of the FA Cup to get through to the final.