The draw at Chelsea on Tuesday night had to be a huge boost for Arteta and the players too. To twice come from behind to get a 2-2 after playing for over an hour with 10 men showed real strength of character and commitment from the players. While we can be unhappy with both of the goals we conceded the players defended very well when under a lot of pressure.
The contribution of Gabriel Martinelli in the absence of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was a huge boost and Arteta has to now consider him as one of the first names on the team sheet every week. His 67 yard run and finish for our first goal was simply magnificent and it’s been too long since we saw a goal to raise our spirits as much as that goal did. Thanks to Hector Bellerin’s late equaliser that Martinelli goal got some reward on the night and we took a very unlikely point given the circumstances.
There is no doubt we have some real issues in terms of personnel, but we also have some very good players to call on. I’m still longing to see a front three of Martinelli, Aubameyang and Nicolas Pepe and the options it will give us in terms of pace and finishing ability. Playing those three players together would leave no room in the team for Alexandre Lacazette, but it has to be something for Arteta to try as he looks for some balance in our attack.
It’s our lack of goals and goalscoring opportunities which is holding us back at the moment and I think those three up front might help to solve that problem. The fact we have virtually no scoring potential in our midfield is a real worry too and it’s not something which can be easily solved with the players we currently possess. Maybe Joe Willock could be the player who can make runs from the centre into the box to offer that threat, but he would have to start ahead of Mesut Ozil to do so given our current formation.
Arteta is going with two more or less holding midfielders which is perfectly understandable as it gives us a platform to build on and some added protection for the defence. The current first choice duo don’t offer too much in terms of scoring intent though except for the very rare screamer from Granit Xhaka and Lucas Torreira occasionally breaking free of his defensive shackles to pop up in the box. It’s an issue which will probably be best solved in the transfer window and that probably means waiting until the summer.
The Liverpool model has been looked to as one to aspire to with their midfield adding very few goals, but their front three scoring heaps of them. To be honest Aubameyang, Martinelli and Pepe (if they were the trio) would have to add about 50 league goals a season between them to match the output of the Liverpool trio. It’s a big ask for them and they might get there, but it will take time.
For them to do so we need our two fullbacks to contribute as much as their’s do and we’re currently a long way off that. The return of Hector Bellerin is very welcome on that count and getting Kieran Tierney fit again would be an added bonus for that target. Even with those two back they would have to improve their final ball an awful lot to match the assists Liverpool get from their two full backs.
The one place where we’re actually getting a good return is from our set pieces with our central defenders doing their bit in front of the opposition goal. Our corners have been very good in the main and I don’t think any other team has more goals from corners in the league so far this season. If only they were as good at keeping the opposition out at the other end.
Overall I am really hopeful with the direction we’re going in, but the signs are it will be a slow and laborious task to try to get us back among the elite teams of Premier League football. Arteta certainly talks the talk and the signs so far are he might just walk the walk too.
We face a trip to Bournemouth tonight in the fourth round of the FA Cup and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him put out a fairly strong team all things considered. With Aubameyang serving the last game of his suspension I’d be surprised if Martinelli didn’t start and we might see Eddie Nketiah at some stage too. I imagine Matteo Guendouzi will come into the midfield while Emiliano Martinez will play in goal with Willock and Ainsley Maitland-Niles probably getting a look in too.
It’s been almost a week since our last game and the players have plenty of time to recover after this game too so fatigue shouldn’t be a factor in team choice. Bournemouth managed to win their first game in quite a while last week to climb out of the relegation zone, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they rested a lot of players tonight with that relegation battle in mind. They’ve struggled to score goals for a long time this season and their defence has become very leaky too.
We should see whether we have improved since we drew 1-1 away to them very early in Arteta’s reign and I hope those results will be positive. We’re still struggling to create chances away from home and every player other than Aubameyang has struggled on the road. A strong display tonight should give us even more optimism after the result at Chelsea last week.
That’s it for today.
See you tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment