Before Arsenal were knocked out of the Europa League on Thursday night, flickers of Tony Adams, Martin Keown and Sol Campbell lit up the big screens at the Emirates.
The great Arsenal championship-winning sides were built on great centre-backs – good to watch, but equally unbreakable and resilient.
No matter how it is painted, this defeat hurt Arsenal. Both in the practical sense, with William Saliba and Takehiro Tomiyasu forced off within 21 minutes through injury, and in more intangible ways too. There was a subdued resignation among their fans as they exited along the Holloway Road in quiet disappointment – there was no real anger, just concern at what may lie ahead.
Ask Aaron Ramsdale, who was caught off his line for Pedro Goncalves’ equaliser and failed to save any of Sporting’s penalties, if he considered the result a blessing in disguise ahead of the title run-in. Or Gabriel Martinelli, who at 21 years of age must now bear the scars of a decisive missed penalty, with another chance for this young group to win a first trophy fizzling away as suddenly as the brilliant green of the pyrotechnics lobbed from a euphoric away end.
Arsenal have 11 “finals” to ensure their European demise will be no more than a footnote in a historic campaign. It risks being far more than that if it is remembered as the night that defensively, the wheels started to fall off.
Mikel Arteta has become reliant on Saliba. For the duration of his loan spells in France, which lasted three years, Arsenal fans pleaded with the club for his return. Whether his impact has been down to good fortune, rather than good foresight, is up for debate.
The thought that Arsenal may now have to traverse an alarming run of fixtures (Liverpool, Manchester City and Chelsea feature in their next seven games) without him will not be a pleasant one for Arteta. He said the Frenchman had been in some “discomfort” as he left the pitch. Saliba was not wearing any strapping when he left the ground, but Tomiyasu departed on crutches, with Arteta describing his injury as “looking pretty serious”.
Ben White will discount the injury to Tomiyasu for now – indeed had Arteta gone full strength he would probably have started anyway – but herein lies one of the first major tests of Arsenal’s depth. Mercifully, it begins with a trip to Crystal Palace, who do not score goals. There goes that serendipity again. There is always a risk that will change with a “new-manager bounce”, though whether they have an immediate replacement in mind for Patrick Vieira is unclear in the hours following his surprise sacking.
White has a point to prove, at least to Gareth Southgate having been left out of the England squad for the upcoming Euro 2024 qualifiers. It is not public knowledge why he was sent home early from the World Cup and his international future remains unclear. Take away White, and Arsenal are without a recognised right-back.
Subtract Saliba and you are still left with Gabriel Magalhaes, but he is suddenly partnered by Rob Holding. Over the course of the season, when Holding has played he has managed a fifth of Saliba’s passing stats in the Premier League, and around an eighth of his tackling success.
Edu, the club’s sporting director, was wise to bring in another centre-back in Jakub Kiwior, particularly as he is versatile, can play in midfield, and fits Arteta’s model of developing young defenders. However, the first leg at Sporting was his debut and it did not go well, Kiwior widely criticised for allowing Goncalo Inacio a free header for the opening goal.
That this squad has looked a little threadbare in the Europa League was no great tragedy. Arsenal would have liked to win it but will take solace in no longer having to fly around the continent for Thursday night games to be followed by even more arduous Sundays in the title race – but that title race has become everything, if it wasn’t already.
Arteta was powerless to stop the physical blows of a gruelling, bruising night. The real test, which will make or break Arsenal as potential champions, is whether he can protect them from the emotional ones.
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