Takehiro Tomiyasu missed Arsenal’s first league game of the season against Crystal Palace at the weekend as they began the 2022/2023 season in style.
Mikel Arteta’s side has had a busy summer transfer window, but they haven’t signed a new right-back.
With Cedric Soares not the club’s first choice, Arteta opted to start Ben White in that position against Palace.
The former Brighton man struggled against Wilfried Zaha and he had William Saliba to thank on many occasions after he had been beaten.
The best right-back at the Emirates now is Tomi, and the Japanese star is just recovering from an injury that has kept him out of action since the end of last season.
He played for Arsenal’s under23 in their game against Manchester United at the weekend, and Football London reports that he could start the senior team’s next match against Leicester City.
If he doesn’t play from the start, he is very likely to be on the bench.
Just Arsenal Opinion
Tomiyasu is an important member of the current team, and we missed him in the game against Palace.
The earlier he returns to the team, the better it would be for us, but we probably need to sign a new right back to bolster that spot on our team.
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A happy Arteta would have liked a couple more goals against Palace. Wouldn’t we all!
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He will start in Jesus Christ name! With White in the right back role, I will still be fearful as hell.
Nowt wrong with White in my opinion, his stats against Zaha Friday were pretty darn good.
Any actual reason or just a general bias?
He was player of the season and made his name at Leeds playing RB. His stats were excellent against one of the trickiest wingers in the league, keeping a clean sheet….1st game of season regards sharpness and a position he hasnt played in over a year…..I fail to understand your made up concern…..or is it becuase he was injured and scored an own goal at the end of last year when we had no other options?
not exactly terrible.
“made his name at Leeds playing RB”
Is this true? My impression was that he was always primarily a CB who could play RB – this is from a sky article after he finished his loan with Leeds: “White formed a solid defensive partnership with Leeds captain Liam Cooper last term”
Anyway, I thought he was OK against Palace – Zaha is a nightmare for anyone (even Tomi), and I thought white did well enough. Saliba “saving” him has to be part of the plan against a tricky winger like Zaha. It’s called doubling up and covering each other – team work!
(Liam Cooper is a CB in case that quote wasn’t clear)
You are right bro. His performance was not in question. Saliba covering him is part of the game plan.
Nothing underperforming about that.
They all had a great game winning
Tomi was our best and most consistent defender last year when he was healthy. If he is 100% he has to start over White, and the Saliba / Gabriel pairing stays.
I believe Tierney Gabriel. Saliba. Tomi
Is our best back 4. I would love to see White play as CDM with Partey having freedom to get forward in attack.
Unfortunately, I doubt Arteta will drop Xhaka from midfield.
Interesting choice for lineup to see who misses out Tierney? White? Saliba? Tomi?
None need to miss out. They will all be used in a variety of combinations as the season progresses to protect from burnout and injury. thats the idea of having a deep squad.
Also without Bens passing ability, it changes the way we play…. Saliba and Gabby just dont have that quite in their locker in the same way at the moment.
Also Xhaka, what is everybody’s problem? He has comfortably been our best player the past 12 months…..and you want to put an unproven player into the middle just cos…..
Armchair tactics to the max!
Xhaka has been our best player for a year?!? Well Saka won player of the year, and I don’t think anyone even considered xhaka, but in any case practically every one of the other expected starters has been as good or better. It’s as though every time xhaka doesn’t royally mess things up he gets a 9/10 from some people. Most of the time he’s average, sometimes he’s really good and every now and then he makes a complete mess that costs us a game. It’s the last part that really concerns me because we could get plenty of players who could cover the first two who aren’t considered anything special.
Hothed
“Comfortably been our best player?” Geez, no accounting for taste. All his errors leading to goals, yellow cards, like diving last game, red cards, and stupid fouls that led to scoring opportunities.
Guess Saka winning best player was a mistake then? Or impact Ramsdale had was nothing compared to Xhaka?
Can’t erase facts to suit your narrative, but thanks for playing.
Xhaka best player past 12 months, heard it all now. What’s next, Earth is flat, pigs fly, simply unbelievable.
Play cedric, he’s a good player. Play him consistently sothat he will master his position. White is not a right back. It because white is an english player and seeing that saliba want to bench him. Then arteta want 2 use him as right back
Master his position?? He’s been a right been his whole career, how much more years until he finally masters it? If he still hasn’t mastered it after 10+ years, it might be time to think about a different career
Ben White struggled?? He had Zaha in his pocket and had a phenomenal game. Stop writing ‘just for comments’ posts – sad.
We don’t need another right back …we need another striker and a box to box midfielder
I don’t get the hate White has been receiving. I’m not his biggest fan but he played really well against a tough player. 2nd half we were under more pressure than first, so it’s only logical that he is under more pressure
I don’t think that Tomi will play against Leicester.the season is only starting,so no point in risking players by rushing them back.as for White,not many players will give him as much troubles as Wilf and luckily,Harvey Barnes is injured and sidelined for 6 months.so, I’m expecting White to keep his place.
Ben White never stepped a foot wrong vs Crystal Palace and performed massively against the ever maroulding Zaha. Many natural right backs have seen hell against this same Zaha but White did a great job man marking him. Trust me, if you’re a right back, Zaha is the kind of player you’ll beg never to square up against. C’mon, White isn’t a bad player any day and am more comfortable with him at right back at the moment than anyone else, Tomi included. After Tomi’s first 6 months or so at Arsenal, he’s not been the same player we all constantly gave series of standing ovations. Worst is, at this point, I no longer understand his kind of injury that have made him to remain out and unfit
Why would we rush Tomi back who has had next to no pre-season and come off a long period of injuries. Of course we are going to ease him in slowly especially given White’s performance.
On the Ben White debate he made the most tackles in the entire league at the weekend pretty good showing, I’d of thought. Whoscored had him as the outright best RB of the weekend. Certainly tough to be bad in that scenario with 8 tackles (Declan Rice was next on 7) especially as we had more possession than Palace. He was 3rd on the pitch for clearances behind cb’s Saliba for us and Anderson for Palace. He was dribbled past twice compared to Zinchenko 3 times on the other side. Like I say this talk of him being poor is really quite odd. Had a very decent game by all accounts, not sure where the negativity has come from with him in that game. Especially given he was up against Zaha.
Better we have more options in every dipartment than none. white or saliball, they’re there 4 each other. let’s praise our team 4 coming back with all the important 3 points. Everyone shouldn’t forget what happened there last season. Gunners all the way