we aren't in that bad of a place then everyone makes it out to be

Hate to be the cynic but this is just not true. United have Mourinho plus all the big signings they have made, City have Pep, Chelsea will undoubtedly do better than last season, and Liverpool are now more Klopp's team. Spurs have had a quiet summer but I expect them to build on last season unless that last day really fucked them mentally.

Last season was our chance to win the league when everyone around us fell apart. We failed to do that and now all the top teams have strengthened considerably. Once again we have dicked around and are too reactive instead of proactive. I agree that Xhaka and hopefully Mustafi will be amazing additions but we still have Giroud as our main striker with no proper back up/competition. Striker was our biggest problem IMO and at the moment it looks like we may very well be going in with only Giroud again.

Mahrez would be an incredibly exciting pick up if we can get him but he's not going to magically make Giroud score 30+ goals. Our overall game will improve but I don't think he will be the difference between us winning a title or not.