Gabriel Jesus is expected to miss the first few games of the season for Arsenal due to an injury. This has raised numerous questions regarding what Arteta’s attack will look like and who will replace him.
Eddie Nketiah has stated unequivocally that he is capable of spearheading the attack in Jesus’ absence. Of course, we expect Arteta to rely on Arsenal’s No. 14, with Folarin Balogun heavily linked with a move away, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t other choices. Leandro Trossard, who shined in his preseason games as a Gunner playing the striker role, may also play there.
Other than Trossard, Kai Havertz could be an option, but could Arteta be tempted to use the German as the 9 when in the last few seasons he has failed to impress in a similar role in Chelsea’s colours? As per Darren Bent, Arteta shouldn’t think about unleashing Havertz in the No. 9 role, obviously suggesting that Arteta should use other options to fill the void Jesus’ absence leaves. “I hope he (Havertz) doesn’t play as a nine,” said Bent.
Bent, who discussed the Arsenal striker situation with Gabby Agbonlahor on talkSPORT, said so after Gabby claimed Arteta should just stick to his original plan to use Havertz as an attacking midfielder: “When I see Gabriel Jesus play, in certain games I see him play, and I think he should be finishing that. I think that was a problem last season, but you have goals from Saka, Martinelli, Trossard can score goals, and now you have Havertz who could play in that eight.”
Would you consider Havertz playing as Arsenal’s No. 9 in Jesus’ absence? or should Arteta stick with Nketiah?
Darren N
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Leandro Trossard !
Tactically I would go with Havertz at the middle because of his pressing ability. As City are likely to have majority of possession, we need a central forward who can press to catch them in dangerous positions and attack them. I would play Martinell on the left to keep their fullbacks on their toes.
Alternatively, Trossard would be good in the middle if we play ESR and Odegaard behind him to wrestle possession from City.
Trossard. After the preseason he’s had he has to start but that’s only if we chosing players based on form.
Trossard is the best option. I must confess, I don’t trust Nketiah and I know he’s a terrific lad but I don’t like him as a player. I feel he’s trying too much or he’s not trying at all. But I’m sure he’s a wonderful human being.
Give Eddie a chance.
Havertz up top, trossard in no8 position
And Odegaard?
Opposite 8 with partey as lone 6 OR benched with partey and rice starting as midfield pivot.
U want us to win league
Or u just want to witness the fun of tinkering ?
Bench Odegaard ?
@Babasola, the competition is quite fierce for a starting berth in this arsenal team plus versatility being the main attribute of our players any player including the skipper could get benched anyday anytime given any circumstance the gaffer deems fit.
Gabby Martinelli upfront
Trossard and Saka on both side
I support Martineli upfront option because of his speed and conversation rate per game last season
Against an opposition of city’s quality i’d suggest we start Trossard or Havertz to spearhead our attack.Nketiah is not the best option for this game IMO because there were chances he failed to put away against city in our first leg encounter at the emirates last season(which i think trossard in that situation would have done justice to it) that must’ve shot his confidence and cost him a place as a starter eventually.so i think Trossard or even Havertz should be considered ahead of Nketiah in high profile games like this.
Trossard at CF and I think Arteta should try Ramsdale as an inverted keeper😊
2 comments
If we had stuck with Trossard end of the season I feel we win the league or come say closer, Jesus walked straight back in look at the stats Trossard out shone everyone !
And Tierney wide and Ben White central end of last season instead of Holding and we are much much closer , really like Arteta but he should have made those decisions it was very obvious to me!
Just my opinion…
Gene, how many points did Holding really cost us? Think man thinks. He played in a few games and there is only one where I can pinpoint his error leading to an opposition goal. More critically the big points were lost early on when Tomiyasu passed the ball to Manchester City, and later on by defensive gaffs from Gabriel, Kiwior, and White being run ragged by speedier opposing wingers. And let’s not forget our gutless midfield which simply failed to turn up when it counted.
I believe our drop in form can be linked to those decisions he mentioned
U won’t see Holding’s mistake cos he’s not proactive – he doesn’t take on responsibilities like Saliba – the work becomes too much on Gabriel cos the other person is just doing the bare minimum
Same with when Odegaard complained at Lokonga against Man City in the FA
He was supposed to be marking a space blocking a goal opportunity but he didn’t
You’ll watch the goal and say he didn’t commit any error
The problem is he’s not taking charge, they’re scared of making mistakes so they shy away and do only the simple things.
If you dont know how holding was problem then you dont know! He drops deep breaking our high line offside trap.. And he has no control over the ball he always clears it to throw in or corner instead of building up a counter.. Individual errors arent the only thing to look for he affects our whole system of play, in addition to the need of the right back to stay behind to support him instead of overlapping with Saka
Trossard as striker, we had great results last year when he played as a 9, we know it works.
With Nketiah the attack looks disjointed and one dimensional.
Not even sure why it’s even a question, Trossard is levels above Nketiah and proven. 4 years and Nketiah hasn’t stepped up or shown the improvement we needed.
Honestly Balogun should be getting chances, he’s earned an honest look, and Nketiah should be gone after 4 years of trying.
Unleash a front three with Tossard, Martinelli and Saka, get Havertz to knock them down to them as the distributor.
Let Trossard start.
If Nketiah doesn’t start when Jesus is not available, why keep him? It’s a joke.
Trosaard is currently our most in form player based on preseason
Even if Jesus was available it wouldn’t make sense to not start him
Everybody fights for their spot
Everybody in the team already knows that
So Nketiah will know that Trosaard is ahead of him now simply cos he’s playing better
So when he (Nketiah) is doing likewise (on a better form than the others), then Trosaard or even Jesus could be dropped for him also
Nketiah will never be the guy, and I am OK with that. My point is not that he should play, my point is that if he is not good enough, get rid.
I think so long as the front is martinelli, trossard, Saka, odegard and havertz we are in good shape.
I prefer to see trossard in the 8 role along side odegard but it does mean havertz in the 9.
I just hope arteta can get the best out of havertz
Yes anyone but Eddie apparently. And why should he be given chance after chance. What a lucky young man. A Championship level player playing for supposedly one of the biggest clubs in Europe.
Leo is great at controlling play at final third and Nketiah will force the Man City defence to move around. Both have their strong points but I think we need to overload Dias. If he is comfortable, then Man City will be impenetrable.
Trossard… A no brainer
Nketiah for me
Well, Nketiah or Balogun!? Why have them at the club if they aren’t going to play in a situation like this?
Nketiah. Seems like he’s been upgraded his abilities. Would like to see Trossard at cf too, but for me, doesn’t matter wherever he play he will still shine. A wonderful player.
Man City will be without DeBryune & Gundogan
Although they have many players that will immensely trouble any side (Silva, Rodri, Grealish)
I think those 2 Guys above are more like their edge against equally quality opponents
We’ll also be without an edge in Gabriel Jesus
But I think the void is a little more on their side & that it will show (though just a tiny little bit)
And that might be the advantage that sees us through today
+
5 Preseason Matches For Us To Their 3,
We might be a lil sharper
This is the perfect time to go one up on the Citizens, we are more prepared and motivated to play a Man City side still suffering the loss of two of their best players.
Riyhid Mahrez and Ilkay Gundogan no doubt were two of their best players in the last campaign.
And Guardiola seem to be silently kicking out DeBryune
He was on the bench all their preseason matches but he never brought him in
Dude literally told his boss to to “shut the F up” during a CL game last season.who knows what might be brewing btw both men.
MAHREZ was NOT “one of their best players last campaign” he was only a squad player though an effective one.infact he was not in their top 5 players for last season.
Very Correct
And they won’t really miss him
It just means it’s Phil Foden’s time
and Foden is capable
I see people saying funny things like :
(Bench Odegaard for Kai)
(Bench Partey for Rice)
The team was very good last season
To go one notch up, we should think of where/what needs improvement
NOT messing around with what’s already working
So:
The improvement our team needs based on last season:
1. A Deputy when Saliba or Gabriel gets injured (NOTE not someone to come bench them – that’s a gamble that can cost us at least 2 matches before it clicks)
2. Deputy incase Saka gets injured (we rode our luck with Star boy last season – we shouldn’t be hoping on that this season again)
3. Deputy incase Partey gets injured
(In Elneny we have someone who can block but is not too concerned with looking for a forward pass)
(In Jorginho we have someone who enjoys looking for forward passes but doesn’t really block the defense as well as Partey)
Partey is the combination of them both
I think Rice will eventually be used as replacement for Xhaka
And that will mean we haven’t solve this problem
4. Someone who can push Jesus,
Nketiah has been good but with Jesus showing us that he’s not a Goal-Puncher, it means we can make-do with a step-up in that department. That will probably mean letting Nketiah go
So based on those analysis
The only buy that solves a
problem from last season is
Timber
It seems Arteta continues
to see Jorginho as the backup
for Partey – I think Rice should
be the one been prepared for
that role
That’s not saying our transfer wasn’t
great – it was
I rate Timber as the buy that actually
improves us
– that’s if Rice is seen as simply
as Xhaka replacement
It was a position that was working well last season, so I see Rice as a replacement not an improvement
Trosard ticks all the boxes for me.
Definitely trossard