During the September international break, Mikel Arteta told us that he would soon give Emile Smith Rowe an opportunity to compete for a slot in his starting lineup. That time appears to have come, as our manager has challenged the 23-year-old to prove his worth to the club.The Spaniard isn’t ready to give up on our No. 10 and believes he can work his way into his starting 11.
In his press conference for the Carabao Cup clash versus Brentford, Arteta admitted as per Football London, “There’s been many reasons why he hasn’t started a match. He was out for a long, long time.
“In the last two matches, he’s played more minutes, and tomorrow (today), he will have a big chance to show that he can play at this level and be a really important player for us.
“He needs time on the pitch, and he needs opportunities, and we want to provide that to him. Then he needs to prove it like anybody else on the field that he deserves to play.”
Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Martinelli are not fully fit, having missed last weekend’s 2-2 draw with Tottenham Hotspur owing to injury. Smith Rowe has a chance to show what he is all about on Arsenal’s left wing as the two strive to get match-fit.
According to Arteta’s claims (above), he (Smith Rowe) will almost certainly get lots of game time in the coming games, starting with the Brentford Carabao tie, which the Englishman must capitalise on because they might be the turning point in his Arsenal career.
Come on Emile, show Arteta how good you really are!
Darren N
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ITS BY TIME!!
Where’s he going to be asked to play? Right Back
No, left side of midfield/forward line.
Having looked at an Arsenal preview, it looks as though a few players will get their chance to impress tonight. ESR and I guess Reiss Nelson too.
I also hope Ramsdale gets to start as his confidence level will get shot to pieces otherwise
Here is the issue, after months of almost no game time rotting on the bench you can’t just expect players to perform! That is setting them up for failure and it’s all too easy to turn around and say, “They got a chance but they didn’t perform”
This is the whole issue now with lack of rotation over the past 2 years. All our squad players lack match fitness and sharpness and when injuries happen then they aren’t at their peak.
👍 PJ-SA, common sense.
I’m not sure I was exactly saying that by getting their chance tonight after little game time, that they’re setting themselves up for failure if found to be ‘ring rusty’.
It is a golden opportunity for them to stake their claim and if they are worth their salt then they need to take it.
I agree that rotation has been skimpy
@PJ-SA
RealTalk. In my opinion, lack of rotation of benchwarmers contributed to our end of season fold up last season. Many of the players who were tasked to jump in and fill certain positions came up short due to lack of match fitness. Here we go again…Jus sayin.
Ramsdale has to play.
Raya can’t play against Brentford
He is their player.
Surprisingly the kid still look sharp, how he manages that is beyond me.
Happy he finally gets a chance to start a game
As you say PJ-SA, a lack of rotation may well have contributed to a number of injuries, and ,as fans we ought to recognise the very good point you make regarding a lack of match sharpness.Let’s hope ESR, Nelson, Kwior and Tomi get 90 mins under their belt tonight in a competition which ranks bottom in terms of importance this season.
Got a laugh when I read Arteta saying ESR “needs to prove it like anybody else on the pitch.”
Compared to players like Nketiah and Havertz who have not had to prove anything yet.
Or Odegaard who always starts when Vieira or ESR could step in and play as a 10 for the team.
Or Trossard who was on form last year and was dropped like a hot potato the moment Jesus regained fitness.
All this “competition” and “proving” they deserve to play are just buzz words; hollow and signify nothing so far this season.
@Durand
🎯
Now there is no other option Arteta has. If all players are available he would not have played Smith Rowe today. Arteta is a big joke.
I think Arteta had little chance to rotate last season because of our position and the fall off in quality between first choice and fringe players. Just imagine the uproar from fans on here if he had’ve rested key players last term and we lost. This season there only 5 ever present starters after just 7 games.
This season Arteta playing banched players because of injuries otherwise he is stubborn to do that.