Arsenal are ready to come out of the blocks this evening firing on all cylinders, but we have got an injury list that doesn’t seem to decrease in size. Luckily Mikel Arteta has great faith in the players we have as backups are fitting seamlessly into the starting line-up.
With William Saliba out for the long term and Oleks Zinchenko also out for tonight’s game against Southampton, it looks like Rob Holding and Kieran Tierney will be stepping up to the defensive plate once again.
This is Arteta said about the pair in his pre-match conference: “Their contribution is huge. First of all the way they behave around the team, how patient they have been, and when they have to play what they have produced in terms of performances.
“Now, they are playing more games, they are playing more minutes and will continue to do so. This is why you need top-quality players with the right mentality to be ready when you need them – on the pitch, and when you are not using them that much on the pitch, to contribute to the team in the right way. Those two are great examples of that.”
So Arteta has no worries on that score, but the boss has also indicated that there are good reasons for not playing Gabriel Jesus in every single game yet, or at least not for the full 90 minutes. This is what Arteta said about the Brazilian: “We’ll see. We’ve been really careful. There have been some issues within that period when he was doing the final stages of the rehab and we have to be really attentive.
“We have players that can change the game, that are fully fit, that deserve to play as well and we have to be mindful of that.”
I wonder if that’s hint that it may be time to play Trossard from the start for a change. If Arteta can’t rest Jesus against the bottom club in the Premier League, when can he?
Darren N
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The squad depth caught us at the wrong time. We only have about 15 players that can be regarded as 1st teamers and they are toast when injuries happens to just couple of players. They lack CM and CDM that can slot in when Xhaka and partey are injured or off form. They need a minimum of 5 ready made players next season. We have enough young players and now is time to invest in experience world class players
Arteta doesn’t give a lot of players the chance to prove themselves so they end up being match rusty for example why was jorginho gotten for 15m if he can’t be trusted to replace xhaka when injured, why is trossard not starting when he has impressed almost every time he started, why can player like smith Rowe, Tierney(he started the last match and wasnt the worst player on the pitch) get some times on the field, are they that bad. Why did we even get kwior we could have used that money some where else and ramsdale isn’t that much better than Leno in my opinion both make errors a lot.
3 points from a possible 9 is just poor at this stage. I don’t think it’s about depth though. Another Ramsdale howler. Gabriel not marking his man. Zinny switching at the back post. Just bad errors have cost us big points but Ramsdale has really taken a dip lately. Now we have to beat City. No question about it. Complete capitulation again.
Lack of squad depths creates complacency which results in silly errors like the ones partey had the last two games. Also some might be having low confidence due to errors in the game or from the pressure, therefore other players are needed to step in to help them.
I think substituting Xhaka with Veira was disastrous, but let’s be honest; even Partey wasn’t at his best. Our defence was exposed as if no CDM was there!
We still got it if we want to keep it in our hands!
MA should focus on the mental part in the following games; we lack the confidence to win the title, and most of our players lost their eager for the win.
Tulz, you are spot on. Why, Why, why??? Clearly someone at the club is making poor decisions.
Nice to get a point – but we needed all three. Sadly, we can’t say its unexpected. The teams lack of strength in depth has been exposed under pressure, as has a fragile mentality we’d all hoped they’d finally put to bed after recovering well from poor defeats against utd and home to city. It’s clear we still need quality cover in defense and midfield. The question is, can arteta finally whip them into shape for next season?
They’ve got to pick themselves up, dust themselves off. I personally was calm. Thought we coulda got the 4th goal. Man City next. Never say die. Football is a strange game. Can’t wait for Dan Smith’s comments. Looking forward to that. Heads up everyone. We go again mid week. 3 coffees, 6 cigarettes in the last 15 minutes for me
Haha thats the spirit pjennings brought a smile to my face. There is going to be a torrent of abuse at the manager and players but if we are being honest even if we had the talent most of us posting on here would have crumbled under the lights in today’s environment and never made it to the premier league. However it comes with the territory and I will just repeat what I had said after last game the club will have to look for professional help in the way of a top notch sports psychologist besides new signings.
I’m sorry but we can’t keep using the lack of depth squad as an excuse.MA had options tonight,what about starting Jorginho to give cover?or KT at LB and move Zinchenko in midfield?starting Trossard?even with some players out of form,I still think we had enough quality to beat them.
Agree 100%. Tierney at LB and Zinchenko to replace Xhaka was the smart selection.
Instead, let’s play a flop in Vieira who expectedly delivers nothing against team dead last in table.
Seen enough of his invisibility on the pitch, add another dreadful underwhelming performance to his resume’..
Agree with everything said here – Viera was diabolical and was in no way a replacement for Xhaka, you only should bring him on if you’re cruising 4-0 in the last ten minutes. Either bring on jorghinio with Partey, or play Zinchenko for Xhaka with Tierney on the wing. Don’t understand why Tierney doesn’t start, prefer him to Viera. Why is ESR being sidelined as well?
Agree with everything said here – Viera was diabolical and was in no way a replacement for Xhaka, you only should bring him on if you’re cruising 4-0 in the last ten minutes. Either bring on jorghinio with Partey, or play Zinchenko for Xhaka with Tierney on the wing. Don’t understand why Tierney doesn’t start, prefer him to Viera. Why is ESR being sidelined as
Agree with everything said here – Viera was diabolical and was in no way a replacement for Xhaka, you only should bring him on if you’re cruising 4-0 in the last ten minutes. Either bring on jorghinio with Partey, or play Zinchenko for Xhaka with Tierney on the wing. Don’t understand why Tierney doesn’t start, prefer him to Viera. Why is ESR being sidelined as well?
Yeah, bunch of bottlers. Clearly this nose a thing with MA at the helm.
Terrible with cups and bottlers when business end of season comes.
People already moaning about Xhaka not playing costing us. Nonsense. He wouldn’t have made much difference. Emile Smith Rowe would have though. He would have been running back, picking up the short passes from defence, sending the ball forward and who knows even getting himself into good goal scoring positions. Unfortunately we know that Xhaka will be back at the Etihad.
Shipping 3 goals at home against the bottom placed Southampton is a disgraceful performance.
I am devestated about the last 3 draws, particularly last night.