Arsenal have continued to build on the impressive showings we saw under the guidance of Mikel Arteta last season, where the Gunners narrowly missed out on the Premier League title, as Manchester City pipped them in the final month of the 2022/23 season. However, Arteta’s men seemingly haven’t let that have a negative impact on the start of their new league campaign, with Arsenal in touch with top-spot after the first two months of the campaign.
What’s even more impressive for the London-based side is that they’ve maintained consistency in their results even with first-team players being ruled out of action through injury. The likes of Thomas Partey,
One player that could have easily been forgotten by the Arsenal supporters is Mohamed Elneny, who hadn’t played for the senior squad in 261 days due to a lengthy injury lay-off. Elneny has been with the club since 2016, but has found regular game time hard to come by, and previously spent a season on loan with Turkish side, Besiktas. He signed a one-and-a-half year contract extension with Arsenal in February 2021, which means that he’ll be with the club until the end of the 2023/24 season. The Egyptian central midfielder made his return to the team in a narrow 1-0 win over Brentford in the EFL Cup, which meant that Arsenal remained unbeaten this term.
If you’re a bettor, then you could be tempted by Arsenal’s odds to win the 2023/24 EFL Cup, as it’s been revealed to us by BonusCodeBets that the Gunners are priced at 7/2 to win the trophy this year. Below, you’ll find the rest of the betting odds on Sky Bet for the contenders for the EFL Cup.
- Liverpool @ 3/1
- Manchester United @ 4/1
- Chelsea @ 5/1
- Newcastle United @ 5/1
- West Ham United @ 14/1
- Fulham @ 16/1
Odds displayed are correct as of 2:50 pm, Thursday 28th September 2023. Odds are subject to change.
It seems like a big ask for Elneny to force his way into the starting XI on a regular basis for Arsenal’s league campaign, especially with the likes of Martin Ødegaard, Declan Rice, and Fabio Vieira all likely to be ahead of Elneny in the pecking order in Arteta’s plans, which is understandable given that they’ve barely put a foot wrong in the 2023/24 season to date.
A clearout of the so-called ‘deadwood’ is needed at the Emirates Stadium though, and with Elneny’s contract reaching a conclusion in the summer of 2024, it could be the ideal opportunity for both parties to go their separate ways. At the age of 31, he’ll certainly feel as though he can still cut it at a relatively high level, and even if that’s not to be in the Premier League, you’d like to think that Elneny could still perform to a high standard for a club that are competing in European competitions. His experience would certainly prove useful for plenty of teams, and although there will be obvious concerns about his injury problems in recent years, his quality should see clubs register their interest heading towards the summer transfer window.
A summer departure from Arsenal looks as though it’s going to be on the cards, in what would be the ideal move for all parties involved, especially when the Gunners could reinvest the wages from Elneny on other areas of their squad in preparation for the new league campaign.
