Those of a certain religious persuasion would probably use the following phrase to discuss the now (thankfully) ended transfer _MegaLull_, when it comes to Arsenal players’ performances:
> The Good Lord Giveth, and he taketh away.
The ‘Taketh away’ bit is, of course, the injuries to Havertz, then Tzolis, then Konsa too, who I haven’t mentioned this week, but of course has to be a concern. The latter is a worry, but with Christian Mosquera in the squad, we have a very capable deputy who could cover for Leeds at home on Saturday, for example, so I think that challenge can be mitigated by Arteta. In Eze, there is a guy who just got 90 minutes playing for England in a 3-0 victory, showing some bright moves in the little that I switched it on to watch (about 10 minutes of the second half). His stats are also decent too: 68 touches in total, 44 of 48 accurate passes, three blocked shots, two defensive contributions, and overall a fine – if not sparkling – performance. We didn’t need him to be. He will get game time on Saturday and, having played 90 minutes for his country last night, he’ll be in a better position to give us the best of Eze against Leeds.
The ‘giveth’ part is of course the performance of those players who might replace Kai Havertz up top, because last night Mikel Merino chucked his hat in the ring to give Arteta something to think about. I haven’t seen his first goal, but his second goal was an absolute peach of a finish. It was the kind of touch and swivel inside the box that, if Thierry had done it, you wouldn’t be surprised and would be nodding your head and explaining out loud, “that’s Titi, man”. Merino now has three goals and two assists in his four matches he’s played for Spain. But what makes it more impressive is the number of actual minutes he’s played in order to deliver that return: 109. So basically he’s played just over the equivalent of one football match and has the equivalent of a hat-trick and an assist. Honestly, this man is absolutely brilliant, and I can’t wait to see him on the pitch in an Arsenal shirt.
Who starts on Saturday, though? Because Big Vik will have his hand in the air too, given that he’s bagged four in four during this break. His goals have predominantly all been of the predatory kind, which whilst it’s great for his confidence, does make me wonder about whether it’s the best chess piece for Arteta to be placing on the board for the lunchtime kick-off in a few days. I suspect he will go for Big Vik, but Merino simply has to get game time at some point, so a sharing of minutes in that position wouldn’t surprise me on Saturday.
I guess it also depends on how Leeds are going to set up. If they are going to sit deep, be compact and tight, try and restrict space in and around their own penalty box, then having Viktor mark himself out of another match might not be the best option. Likewise, if we have to resort to a bit of a battle for some aerial dominance, then you’re picking Merino all day long for that striking slot. But as it stands, right now, the positive we have as Arsenal fans is we have a few players who have hit some form and are showing signs of knowing where the back of the net is. Good stuff.
There were also performances from Martin Zubimendi in that Spain game, for which he also assisted the goal for Merino’s winner at the death against Croatia. And Myles Lewis-Skelly, who played the full 90, had 72 touches, completed three of four successful dribbles, had a 91% passing accuracy and four of five accurate long balls. FOTMOB gave him a 7.4 (Eze got a 7.5), and at this point, if you’re Arteta, you really are spoiled for riches in the middle of the park. He’ll probably also be telling the players that it is a shame that he can’t play 13 players from the start, because I suspect he might think Merino AND Gyokeres, or Bruno AND Myles, AND Zubimendi. But hey, as a manager, you always want those kinds of headaches, so I’m sure he won’t be complaining too much.
And neither will we, because we can finally wave goodbye to this frustrating international break, and start looking ahead to the threat that a decent Leeds side and the elbows of Dominic Calvert-Lewin will pose. I’ll start to look at them tomorrow, I think, followed by the usual review of what the pundits are saying on Friday, as well as early injury news. But for now, for today, that’s me done.
Have a good one, kids.