Alan Smith recommends three signings Arsenal must make this summer to catch Man City

Alan Smith, a former striker for Arsenal, says that if the club wants to mount another title campaign the following year, they will need to spend money on a center-half, a midfielder, and another striker.

After dominating the league for the majority of the season, Arsenal’s chances of winning the league for the first time in 19 years are dwindling in the wake of Wednesday’s humiliating 4-1 loss to Manchester City.

Mikel Arteta’s team leads the league by two points, but City now has two games in hand and has a more beneficial schedule ahead of them.

With Arsenal not playing until Tuesday when they host Chelsea, City can go to the top with a victory at Fulham on Sunday.

Prior to the loss to City, Mikel Arteta’s team had lost all three of its games, and the loss of William Saliba, their center-half, dealt a serious blow to their title hopes.

Declan Rice of West Ham United is reportedly one of Arsenal’s top targets this summer to bolster the midfield, but Smith believes Saliba’s absence has increased the need for a backup defender.

Gabriel Jesus has proven to be a wise signing since joining from City last summer, but Smith says another front-line option might also be taken into consideration.

He told Sky Sports: ‘I think you’re probably looking through the heart of the team, through the centre.

‘We’ve obviously seen how they’ve suffered without Wiliam Saliba and the drop-off was quite drastic really, no manager would want to see that so they miss the Frenchman.

‘Thomas Partey has been a bit in and out this season, when Xhaka didn’t play they missed him certainly.

‘There’s been a lot of attention on Arsenal’s central midfield, possibly Declan Rice coming. That’s going to be a saga in the summer. Where’s the West Ham midfielder going to end up, it looks like he’s going to leave the Hammers.

‘Possibly another forward to compete with Jesus, they’ve got Eddie Nketiah but I think the centre-half and the central midfielder that will start games.

‘[Jakub] Kiwior, the defender who came in in January, could develop into a very good player so that might be a bit premature because they bought one in Kiwior but Mikel Arteta didn’t feel he was ready yet and Rob Holding got the shout.’