Arteta must learn to shuffle the pack if Arsenal are to continue title charge
So now we know: Mikel Arteta had cause for a post-match moan. It turns out Ivan Toney’s equaliser, which cost Arsenal victory over Brentford, should have been ruled out —Christian Norgaard was offside, if only VAR Lee Mason had drawn a few lines.
How tempting it will be, then, to redraw conclusions and rejig the script: but for off-field calamity, Arsenal would be back to winning ways ahead of Manchester City’s arrival on Wednesday.
How foolish it would be, too. Make no mistake, those Arsenal supporters who filed out of the Emirates, expletives tumbling from their mouths, were frustrated by more than the result. They had grumbled for a lot of the afternoon, as Brentford created several gilt-edged chances and the home side struggled to turn possession into much at all.
This was another sluggish display which lacked the fluency, conviction and invention that has carried Arsenal towards the title. Fate remains in their hands — so time for perspective, perhaps.
But Arsenal are now without a win in three matches. They have dropped points in two of their past three home games — only Eddie Nketiah’s last-minute winner against Manchester United prevents that becoming three from three. And they are carrying a few players whose levels have dipped — Ben White, Gabriel Martinelli, Thomas Partey, Granit Xhaka… in truth very few players are hitting the standards they set before Christmas.
That may not be a shock or cause for panic, either. Perhaps Arsenal’s squad are merely returning to their mean. They were setting standards that few teams could sustain.
But it poses a question for Arteta heading into the matches that could shape their season. Is it time to shuffle his pack?
So far this season, consistency of selection has been one of their strengths — Arsenal have had a settled side and oiled combinations across the pitch. Over these first 21 matches, Arteta has made just 14 changes to his starting XI, and used only 17 different starters altogether.
Fewer, on both counts, than any other coach in the Premier League. For comparison, Chelsea have made 79 changes and used 30 starters.
There are several reasons for this disparity. Arteta has had little need to change a winning formula. Arsenal have been fortunate with injuries, too.
But, at least until recently, they simply haven’t had the back-up available to other big sides. For last month’s draw against Newcastle, Arteta’s attacking options off the bench were Fabio Vieira (22), Marquinhos (19) and Nathan Butler-Oyedeji (20).
That helps explain why they went so hard at the January transfer window. And why they were willing to bend their recruitment model to bring in the likes of Jorginho and Leandro Trossard, who offer Arteta oven-ready options to tweak his side.
It was Trossard who came off the bench to help create Nketiah’s winner against United and the Belgian who broke Brentford’s resistance, too. Minutes earlier, Arteta was angry after Martinelli’s botched flick inside his own half. The Brazilian’s influence has faded in recent weeks.
He is not alone: White, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes and Aaron Ramsdale have all been guilty of wobbles. Partey is not providing the same control, Xhaka’s goals and assists have dried up, while Nketiah was quiet again yesterday. Are Arsenal beginning to tire?
‘You always think about that and with a few players especially when you lose,’ Arteta said. ‘Those questions are always there when you drop two points. With the players we have, we will try to maximise our resources, which we’ve done really well.’
But the advantage of players such as Trossard and Jorginho is that they are Premier League ready. Throwing Trossard in against City, for instance, would also give Pep Guardiola something different to think about.
Because picking the same team means opponents can plan in advance and there is a growing body of evidence to suggest teams have devised ways to stifle Arsenal: sit deep, soak up pressure, harry them in midfield and double up on their wingers.
Hardly revolutionary thinking, and so often this season, Arsenal’s fast starts have undone best-laid plans. Not recently, though.
These are also the sort of afternoons that highlight the importance of Gabriel Jesus, a master of dragging defenders out of position and finding holes in tight spaces. There is a feeling that his absence is impacting the likes of Martinelli, too. They work so wonderfully in tandem and herein lies an issue with changing tack.
Arteta risks breaking up combinations that make Arsenal greater than the sum of their parts: Martinelli-Xhaka-Oleksandr Zinchenko; White-Martin Odegaard-Bukayo Saka. It was the latter, down Arsenal’s right, that created the goal for Trossard.
‘Every player has his moment,’ Arteta said. ‘We believe it was the right choice to bring him on.’ Now to decide whether to keep him there.
