Arsenal are on an amazing run which could hardly have been foreseen after we lost our first two games to Man City and Chelsea, but it may be worth noting that at the time Lucas Torreira was just settling in after his late arrival from the World Cup, as well as learning a new language and culture. As he himself said: “So at first everything was new for me. It is a new style of football. It is different and so are my team-mates but it’s about always fighting for it and working day after day. I am listening a lot and learning with the help of my team-mates and all the people in the club — the technical staff have helped me to grow. It has made me feel really comfortable with the team.”
But he seems to have settled in extremely well now and is looking like an amazing summer buy. Martin Keown certainly thinks so. “Watching Emery’s side grind out their victory at Sporting Lisbon reminded me of the ‘1-0 to the Arsenal’ days,” he said.
“It may not have been the prettiest performance but there was an inevitability that they would get the job done.
“The key acquisition has been midfielder Lucas Torreira, the only man to play in all 11 wins.
“He has added steel and bite, controls the play and allows Granit Xhaka to be more creative.”
Keown isn’t the only one that thinks he has helped Xhaka to improve, so does Granit! As he said last week: “You can see that he’s important for us because he’s strong in defence and in duels,”
“He can play easily from side to side and going forward, he helps with our balance.
“He lets me play my game with the ball and go a bit more in front. I am happy with him and the other guys playing in the midfield.”
Even though the fans would love to see Torreira start every game, he has actually only started 5 times and come on as a sub 8 times, but it is always so obvious the difference he makes to the team when he is on the field. Could he be the catalyst Arsenal needed to really make a strong challenge for the title?
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