Arsenal suffered terribly for the first half of the season when we didn’t have a proven Number 10 in the squad, especially as Mesut Ozil was sidelined, but on Boxing Day, Emile Smith-Rowe burst onto the scene and has hardly missed a game since.
But just a month later, Mikel Arteta managed to secure Martin Odegaard on loan from Real Madrid (hopefully with an option to buy in the end) and the Norwegian youngster has proved himself as another brilliant Number 10 in the squad.
There has been much discussion about whether they should both be in the starting XI, so it was no surprise that Arteta was asked about this problem in Arteta’s press conference. The boss replied: “The plan was to have more options and to start to create relationships with players that, in our opinion, could play together.
“We work together as a club to try to identify those talents, good players and intelligent players that can always play together. We have to find the right structure for them to maximise their potential and this is what we are trying to do and we will try to do that even more with some of the players that we have with the same qualities.”
So Arteta admits that they both have the same qualities, and when you consider the games are coming thick and fast every three days, do you think that they should take turns at being rested, or should Arteta just play them both together as much as possible.