Who To Pick From Arsenal

Drafting from Arsenal

Arsenal top the wheel on power at 90, and they get there without a single freakish outlier. The top five read Declan Rice 93 at CDM, Bukayo Saka 93 on the right wing, William Saliba 92 at centre-back, Martin Ødegaard 92 at CAM and Viktor Gyökeres 92 through the middle: five men occupying five distinct positions, separated by a single rating point. Across 29 players the spread is just 5, so the squad you draft in the closing rounds looks a great deal like the one you drafted in the first.

Rice remains the pick, though not for reasons of scarcity. Sandro Tonali is an 88 CDM at Tottenham and anybody drafting that position knows it. Take Rice for what sits behind him instead. Arsenal's holding group averages 91 across two players, a point short of the best position group in the league, Manchester City's strikers at 92. That is the rare case where the safety net is nearly as good as the man himself: miss on Rice and you still come away with something close to 91.

The soft spot is goalkeeping. Three keepers averaging 81 is the weakest thing Arsenal have, and no amount of squad depth turns an 81 into a starter, so shop elsewhere for that slot. Nineteen elite players is an enormous return, second in the league only to Manchester City's 20, which means very nearly everything else here is draftable.

And if the legends are in play, Thierry Henry at 99 is the biggest single upgrade this club can offer. Gyökeres at 92 is a perfectly good centre-forward, but seven rating points is seven rating points, and Henry is the highest-rated name in Arsenal's legend pool by three clear marks, ahead of Dennis Bergkamp and Patrick Vieira on 96.