In these strange and unprecedented times, it is natural for people to cling onto any semblance of normality in the hope that things eventually revert to how they once were.
Aside from those with an Arsenal persuasion, Wednesday night’s occasion at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester offered proof that as much as things have changed in recent months, some things remain exactly the same. It’s a new normal, but it’s the same old Arsenal.
For the first 25 minutes, Arsenal acquitted themselves pretty well against City’s all-star cast, limiting them to just one shot on target, retaining a compact shape in midfield and displaying a hint of danger on the counter-attack. Then David Luiz happened.
Pablo Mari – one of those players you would be forgiven for forgetting existed during lockdown – pulled up injured scampering after Kyle Walker, forcing Mikel Arteta to turn to Luiz to plug the gap. Instead, Arsenal’s defence parted like the Red Sea leaving Bernd Leno to face a tidal wave of shots on his goal.
In his 25 minutes on the pitch, Luiz made an error leading to Raheem Sterling’s opener and conceded a penalty to Riyad Mahrez for the second scored by Kevin De Bruyne for which he was sent off. Phil Foden got in on the act late on to give City their customary 3-0 win over the Gunners.
Arteta will be without Luiz for Monday’s visit to Brighton and it will be interesting to see whether he can make space in his side to fit the club’s highest-earner Mesut Ozil and record signing Nicolas Pepe, both of whom were ignored against City.
Here are the key tactical decisions facing the Arsenal boss.
Defence
Although Arsenal are only one game into Project Restart, Arteta has a full-blown defensive crisis on his hands heading into Saturday’s game on the south coast.
Of the five Arsenal players definitely unavailable for that game, four are central defenders – Luiz is suspended and Calum Chambers, Sokratis Papastathopolous and Mari are all injured. At one stage in Wednesday’s match, it looked as though Shkodran Mustafi would join them on the sidelines after he was scythed down by Sterling.
As it stands, Arteta’s first-team options in central defence extend to Mustafi and Rob Holding, who has played 86 minutes of Premier League football since December 2018. At least, Hector Bellerin and Kieran Tierney came through unscathed against City allowing Arteta to build around his two first-choice full-backs moving forward.
Midfield
Arsenal’s other big injury casualty is Granit Xhaka who lasted less than seven minutes against City before being stretchered off with an ankle problem. Although Xhaka has hardly been Mr Popular with the club’s fans, he has been regularly selected by his various managers at Arsenal, showing his talents are appreciated in house.
Losing the Swiss is a blow, therefore, particularly with Lucas Torreira unlikely to feature as he continues his recovery from a broken ankle. That leaves Arteta with a youthful clutch of players to select in the middle of the park, consisting of Matteo Guendouzi, Joe Willock, Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Dani Ceballos.
Assuming Arteta eventually wants to gravitate towards a 4-3-3 system which features two playmakers in the middle three à la Guardiola at City, perhaps there will be a place for Ozil at the Amex in a more withdrawn role. After Arteta’s comments about the German World Cup winner, though, perhaps not…
Attack
You might have seen a video doing the rounds on Twitter of a frustrated Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang making incisive runs in behind City’s high line only to be ignored time and again by his teammates.
Feel sorry for @Aubameyang7 pic.twitter.com/xe7BUU5DXG
— Ahmed (@Ahmed91Gooner) June 17, 2020
A coach with Arteta’s keen eye for detail will have noticed the safety-first passing approach of his players and will surely implore them to play with greater bravery against Brighton in order to give Aubameyang greater opportunity of adding to his 17 league goals.
Aubameyang is the first name on Arteta’s teamsheet, but the remaining two slots in the forward line are very much up for grabs. Eddie Nketiah, who was unable to dislodge Patrick Bamford in Leeds United’s starting XI in the first half of the season, seems to have usurped Alexandre Lacazette in Arteta’s pecking order which is hardly a ringing endorsement of the £50m Frenchman.
Pepe, another expensive recruit from Ligue 1 also has his work cut out to convince Arteta of his worth, it seems after academy duo Bukayo Saka and then Reiss Nelson were preferred to him on the right-wing in midweek.
Arteta’s decision to fill his side with youthful endeavour against City might have been done in part to test their abilities against elite opposition. The make-up of his starting line-up against Brighton will give a greater indicator as to who features in his long-term plans and who doesn’t.
Here’s how Arsenal could line-up against Brighton:
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3dgYkMe
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