Here we go again, another opportunity for Arsenal to bounce back and get to winning ways. Judging by the noise on twitter Arteta certainly needs the W to get a lot of the fans on board.
My morning coffee today brought me all sorts of thoughts and reasons as to why our attack has not been firing of all late. Formations, personnel, new signings all flashed through the mind; however what I realised is that we have actually had episodes of supreme attacking quality this year. It has just been few and far between.
So rather than looking for what we are lacking, I thought it best to look at what we have done really well, but maybe just not often enough.
The first point I came to I actually covered in my post a few days – movement and creation of space, and the speed of ball circulation in the final third.
The next thought is that Arsenal have always looked good when the centre forward has shown for the ball, bounced it off with control, and continued with quick speed of movement to either receive again or create space with others.
Aubameyang has done this on a couple of occasions this season, but just no where near enough. Think Emile Smith Rowe’s goal vs Spurs. However with Auba the ball just doesn’t stick enough. This is manageable when Auba hits 30 goals a season, which is not the reality at the moment.
The news that Auba is sick could pave the way for Eddie Nketiah to get a start tomorrow. He seems to be in favour with Arteta at the moment, and did well (let’s forget the header) against Everton.
Eddie brings control and link at the top end, but also gives speed and quality of movement. Eddie at this stage doesn’t quite have as good link and target play as Lacazette; or the movement of Auba or Martinelli, however he is more rounded and than the others.
Arteta doesn’t really have time to experiment. Particularly seeing as Nketiah is out of contract this summer. But I can’t deny I would love to see the outcome. I am very curious to see how he would do, particularly if given a couple of matches.
The other option I wouldn’t mind seeing is Martinelli. It wouldn’t give Arsenal a big target, however I do like that he moves well, and he presses well. It would be nice to see a striker pressing with the intensity of our old mate Alexis Sanchez.
Anyway, kick off in a few hours. We’ll see team news soon enough.
Here’s hoping for a big win.
Kia Kaha.
