Alan Shearer has praised Arsenal’s performance against Chelsea, but stresses the need to strengthen in every department.

• Shearer was impressed by Arsenal’s performance
• Claims the players owed the performance to Arsene Wenger
• Rolled out the stock line about needing a defender, midfield and striker

In his column for The S*n, Shearer was very complimentary of Arsenal’s performance. He cited Arsenal’s hunger as the key to their success, and said that Wenger got his tactics “spot-on”. High praise indeed from the pundit.

Shearer admitted that he didn’t think Arsenal had a chance of winning and that he was proved wrong, which is something pundits don’t do often.

However, Shearer was keen to examine the bigger picture. To not praise Arsenal too much, he stated that Arsenal’s lack of title success wasn’t good enough and that they needed to strengthen in every department.

His words were:

“The key is obviously holding on to Sanchez — and with only Europa League football to look forward to, that is not going to be easy.

“But even if he stays, Arsenal still need another central defender, at least one midfielder, and a proven goalscorer.”

In fairness, he’s not entirely wrong in what’s saying.

Arsenal certainly do need to improve their squad if they want to challenge for major honours again. But there’s something incredibly cliché about saying Arsenal need a centre back, a midfield and a striker.

Arsenal scored plenty of goals last season, with four players reaching double figures. Goalscoring has never been an issue.

Meanwhile, while there have been issues in defence, the emergence of Rob Holding and return of Per Mertesacker means Arsenal have solid options there.

Shearer goes on to guess that “Wenger ain’t going to be manager next season”, making him one of the few pundits to take a side on the issue, and to get away with using “ain’t” in a published article.