What if Arsenal kept their best players in the 2010s?
16The big four was finally threatened.
Since the purchase of Chelsea by Roman Abramovich in 2003, the first four positions in the Premier League were incredibly predictable.
Only twice between 2003 and 2010 was the big four breached, with Everton qualifying for the Champions League in 2005 and Tottenham Hotspur doing likewise in 2010.
These, at the time at least, were flashes in the pan.
With the September 2008 purchase of Manchester City by the Abu Dhabi Group, it was quite clear that Manchester City were about to tear apart the fabric of the top four.
Liverpool hadn’t won the Premier League in a while and they initially dropped out of the top four, surrendering their place in the Champions League to Tottenham Hotspur, but with the pressure of Spurs and Man City also waiting in the wings.
As such, Arsenal were prime targets for the up and coming Manchester City as well as the elite of Manchester United and Barcelona.
With the Emirates Stadium paint still fresh, shadowing the newly-built housing at the old Highbury, Arsenal couldn’t afford to replenish their playing staff.
And therefore Cesc Fabregas and Alex Song fled to Barcelona, Robin van Persie departed for Manchester United and the likes of Kolo Toure, Sami Nasri, Gael Clichy, Bacary Sagna and Emmanuel Adebyaor all went to Manchester City.
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Voice: Jake Doyle (@jakedoyle93)
Illustrations: Jake Doyle (@jakedoyle93)
Words: Jake Doyle (@jakedoyle93)
Edit: Jake Doyle (@jakedoyle93)
What If Football is a form of footballing storytelling that takes the audience down a different path to our current reality.
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