Nacho Monreal playing for Arsenal
Nacho Monreal has played a crucial role this season for the North London side Getty

Nacho Monreal insists that Arsenal need to invest in a striker in the summer to challenge for the Premier League title next season.

The Gunners have won the FA Cup on successive occasions and are looking good to end their 11-year drought for the league title in the upcoming season. The north London club ended the season brightly, but were undone by a dismal start to the campaign, owing to injuries to key players and an overall drop in form after the 2014 Fifa World Cup.

Arsenal were without Olivier Giroud, Mesut Ozil and Laurent Koscielny for an extended period in the first half of the season and had to compensate with players who were not comfortable in other positions. Monreal had to be slotted in at centre-back in the absence of Koscielny, while Danny Welbeck was vested with the responsibility to fill in for Giroud.

The emergence of Francis Coquelin and the form showed by the likes of Jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey has been crucial in the way the Gunners are hoping to shape up next season.

However, in spite of their recent form, Monreal, who has been impressive at left back this season, believes that the Gunners need "one or two top signings", including a free scoring striker to run the distance.

"I think we need two things. First we need to keep going like we finished [this season]. We need to keep the [same] level. And the other thing, I think if the club signed one or two top players. We had a lot of injuries, but also we need a player who scores 25 goals per season. We're lucky because Alexis scored 24 goals and Giroud scored, I dunno...19, something like that. We need more goals to win the Premier League," Monreal told Arseblog.

The Gunners start their Premier League campaign against West Ham on 7 August, but face Chelsea on 2 August in a bid to defend the Community Shield.

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