Annnnd just like that Arsenal have won the league. Alright maybe it’s not quite mathematically assured yet but in all seriousness, the gravity of Arsenal’s Saturday evening win cannot be overstated. Aston Villa were the only team to take all 6 points off of Arsenal last season, and now, Arsenal have taken 3 away from home. It’s a great omen for what’s to come. But if Arteta and his men want to solidify their 24/25 trophy, there are a few issues that could be taken care of. Oh, and if you’re one of those Arsenal fans that still think we’d be better off if we’d just stuck with Emery… I have some magic beans to sell you.
Let’s start with the elephant in the room. Our entire LHS. Apparently the left back position may not be as plug and play as we might have initially hoped. Yes, Timber has more defensive acumen than Zinchenko. Yes, his technical abilities made me grin at times. But did he soothe all doubts? Frankly, no. And while you might want to give Calafiori the benefit of the doubt because he wasn’t necessarily allowed to grow into the game, he got burned more than once… He did not show the pace we require from our left back. And maybe that’s okay. Putting aside judging our brand new defenders (Timber was out all season, give me a break, I know he arrived last year) off of one game, the position generating the most controversy is the left wing.
Right off the bat, I want to tackle one particular concern of mine: Martinelli is not bad. If you’re going around on twitter saying he is, I think it stems from a lack of full appreciation for all that Martinelli provides. Yes his output was down and that has some foundation in poor form, but he scored one of our most important goals last season and he played only 22.4 90s, starting only 24 games. He still matches Luis Diaz in goals per 90 and is only 0.03 goals per 90 away from Saka when you take penalties out of the equation. His output isn’t the issue. And what you might struggle to measure objectively, like his defensive contributions, are what makes him a top left winger, who is INTEGRAL to Arteta’s project… if only he had a left foot. The amount of times he elected to hit the ball with the outside of his right boot was.. disappointing.. but when he did manage to wrap his weak foot around the ball at the byline, he produced a great chance that I think Havertz could have done better with.
On that note, however, I think Merino has the potential, as a left-footed left-sided 8 (sound familiar? Guy who’s scoring thunderbolts and leading unbeaten sides in the Bundesliga?) to enhance Martinelli’s game. What are his traits that you’d tout if you were bigging him up to play? He’s quick, he’s got a good shot and he’s unpredictable. With Merino curling them in towards goal for a shot instead of away from it for a cross, I think Martinelli’s fortune could change quickly. When Xhaka was playing them, Martinelli was outscoring Saka.
There is some (fair) thinking going around that perhaps Trossard should be starting ahead of him and I don’t really want to get in to it. I don’t believe there is a ‘correct’ answer and it’s one where you just have to trust the manager and the club. My simple rationale would be that Martinelli protects our backline better and is a really tiring opponent. This allows Trossard to come into a volatile game, with fresh legs and exact his influence almost immediately. I’ve seen Trossard play full 90s and they’re almost always underwhelming. Certainly in comparison to his cameos from the bench. There’s plenty more that could be said, but I am steering clear. What I will say, is that I got it wrong. Convinced by the other data nerds around me, I believed that Trossard was overperforming and would regress. But I think that his knack for finding the right positions in the box and capitalizing on them with sharp striking ability is top level. And not just a fluke. Let’s just keep any frustrations contained to the dressing room please.
In contrast to our LHS woes, the same cannot be said for the right. Ben White is the best right back in the league, for reasons that everyone should now by now. But I think what puts him above the rest is his intelligence and his mentality. This isn’t a deep dive on the brilliance of our favorite love island cosplay enthusiast, but him absolutely leathering a ball into John McGinn after he did the same to Saliba was just another example of why we love him.
A newcomer to my top 5 favorite Arsenal players, David Raya, continued to wow me at the weekend. That save man. Hang it in the Louvre. But it should be an eerie reminder that had Ollie Watkins played a proper pre-season, we may not have been so lucky. Let’s hope Arteta and the boys can evolve that next level and fast. City is less than a month away.