If a neutral person were to form a combined starting X1 of Arsenal and Tottenham players from the performances so far this season, Darren Ambrose says three Spurs players would deny Arsenal players the chance to dominate that team.
Martin Odegaard, according to the former Premier League player, could miss out on a spot in that team owing to James Maddison, who is now in top form. According to Sofascore, the former Leicester playmaker has 2 goals and 2 assists with 2.3 shots on target per game in 4 games, whereas Odegaard has 2 goals and no assists with 1.5 shots on target. Other than Odegaard, according to Ambrose, Oleksander Zinchenko will be benched in favour of Destiny Udogie, and Christian Romero will also compete for a spot in defence.
On talkSPORT, Ambrose admitted, “I think Maddison gets in [over Odegaard].
“Maddison is arguably the best player in the Premier League at the moment. We are talking current form right now. On current form, Maddison gets in over Odegaard.
“Last season, Odegaard, of course. But this season, the way Maddison is going, he is one of three players, since the start of last season, that has scored ten and assisted ten.
“On current form, Maddison is flying. And Odegaard hasn’t really started. He is doing okay. But he hasn’t really started yet. I would also put Romero in. Udogie gets in on current form [over Zinchenko]. It’s been a good start.”
I realise such assertions do not sit well with Gooners, and they shouldn’t. I believe it is too soon to declare that Maddison and Udogie are better than Odegaard and Zinchenko. Odegaard is playing with two other new midfielders, Kai Havertz and Declan Rice, with whom he is still struggling to gel.
As for Zinchenko, he is still recovering from an injury and has yet to establish his rhythm. On a good day, Ange Postecoglou would sit him for Udogie, considering Tierney, one of the best left-backs in the league, wouldn’t stand a chance of benching him. I don’t see Romero benching William Saliba. If I were to select the team (Spurs and Arsenal combined), I’d field an Arsenal all-star lineup.
On September 24, Arsenal will welcome Spurs to the Emirates for the first North London derby. Last season, Spurs lost to Arteta and the boys, home and away.
Darren N
JustArsenal Show – NEO discusses Arteta’s evolving tactics and discusses whether Kai Havertz could be considered a flop after his four games…
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The assertion about Maddison is perfect. That’s someone they got for really cheap and he wanted the move to Arsenal. We know his PL level but Arteta just made the worst choice. And Arteta is forcing Kai into the team but he is not psychologically prepared for the task.
Sometimes as human beings we shoud concede if we have erred.
Arteta should leave him for now and play Vieira or ESR who has a better PL record than Havertz. Give him time to think over it whether he is prepared or not
Would have to agree on Maddison always rated him ,but what about son ?
Those 2 only for me .
Son would be the only one for me.
Do you think Pep will bench Tierney for Zinchenko?
Arteta only bench Tierney cos Zinchenko fit his tactics better.
Pep can use anyone at left back and not into this inverted left back stuff. More reason Zinchenko never bench any left back in Man City and more reason he was sold.
So Arteta benching Tierney for him means nothing.
And about the combined 11?
If we’re talking about the current form, then I did choose Madison over Odegaard but why not picking Rice, Odegaard and Madison for my midfield, best combo you need.
Then at the back, I will pick White, Saliba, Romero and Udogie cos Romero is a good defender, I imagine him coming into this Arsenal team and Gabriel going into theirs. Not taking anything away from Gabriel anyway, still want him to start ahead of any CB here. And about Udogie, he’s a better defender than Zinc, age doesn’t matter. So many managers in EPL will bench Zinc as left back anyway cos nobody is ready to use inverted left back.
And for forward position, I prefer Saka, Son and Kulu, but since Kulu plays the same wing with Saka, then I go with Saka Nketiah(on form) and Son.
So I have 4 Spurs into my team on current form.(Thou I will have them initial anyway)
Rice Odegaard and Madison (Mouth watering)
In my biased opinion,I will only consider Son and Maddison(but not at the expense of Odegaard.And there’s no way I’m picking Romero over Saliba. I’ll pick Saliba with a broken back before I consider a healthy Romero.The fact that Tottenham are playing some of their best football in years whereas Arsenal are not playing as good as they can,yet both teams have equal amount of points tells you all you need to know.
Not one current spud players gets into starting 11. I would take Son and Maddison for bench warmers. That is it.
Harry Kane (oh he’s gone)
Most are spot on with Son and Maddison, must say Maddison currently just edge Odegaard and Kai Havertz doesn’t even come close. If Arteta real wanted another midfielder, Maddison would have been a much better option then Kai, but we didn’t need an any midfielder, what we needed was another good striker different from Jesus. Bissouma would be the third player I would add, because Partey never player in the middle so far and Bissouma was good so for. In the middle I have Bissouma, Rice and Maddison. Son at 9 and the rest only us. O, I almost miss the best one, Arteta misses out here, is Spur’s coach for me and by a mile.
👍
@ martin, spot on. I don’t know what Arteta saw in Kai, Why didn’t he go for a cheaper and better Madison who is even proven goal scorer than Kai who has never scored ten league goals in England. If you ask me I will simply say that Arteta does not know the quality of a good player. Can someone just tell me one attribute or quality of Kai, what did he see in him. It still pains me any time I see Kai in arsenal shirt. We would have gotten a better Madison with cheaper price, it really hurts. And that is how he sold the best premier league goal keeper and started running from piller to post looking for another one. I will simply say that Arteta is just a gambler not a quality coach.
A champion team will usually beat a team of champions. Surely the abilities of the whole are more important than the abilities of individuals
One interesting comparison would the CV’s of the respective managers, given the “cattle” they have to work with?
By the way, shouldn’t we and Arsenal be concentrating on the game against Everton as the current priority, before Spurs? Surely one game at a time!
Well, the same media said last season that Totty won the transfer window and Arsenal will be relegated. There are more important and available topics to discuss.
I’ll put rice Maddie and odergaard in the midfield and the only other spurs player to get into the team is Romero… by the way odergaard had a great start not as good as Maddie in the premier league but better start at international level…
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