Mikel Arteta has spent years speaking on the importance of squad depth. This season, we are seeing its worth. But a team with the ambitions Arsenal have cannot keep waiting for the second half to turn up.
The last three Premier League wins for Arsenal have all been courtesy of brilliant performances off the bench, by individuals looking to assert themselves in the starting lineup. Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta deserves real credit for the way in which he has utilised his squad up to this point, but a worrying and unsustainable pattern is emerging.
The past two seasons have seen Arsenal and Arteta assemble a truly exceptional squad, capable of challenging on all four fronts. There is, however, a difference this season. In the previous campaign, the depth was largely used as a survival tool. Winning the league last season resulted in significant oversight when it came to discussing other key events and important context that made the achievement even more impressive. Injuries hit Arsenal hard, suffering 36 in total, according to Premier League figures. It's also important to note the nature of these injuries, with core players missing a high number of matches including club captain Martin Ødegaard who missed 30 games across the year, Bukayo Saka who missed key matches in the run-in due to an achilles problem and many others.
Despite all that, Arsenal became champions, which is testament to the group that Arteta has built, both in character and quality. Many believe the latter could have been the downfall in previous shortcomings. The depth meant having, for the first time, someone credible in each position to take over when injuries hit and keep the momentum going.
This season, the job has changed. Depth is no longer about solely covering absences. It's about changing games.
The last three Premier League wins tell this story well. In a tough match away at Sunderland, Bruno Guimarães came off the bench and scored a decisive game changing goal. Against Leeds, he did it again. Against Nottingham Forest just this weekend, it was Noni Madueke's turn, who delivered the defining moment off the bench. Three games, three wins and a substitute scoring key goals in each.
The impact has also not been limited to the league. In the recent Champions League win over Lille, Bukayo Saka came off the bench, producing a goal and an assist in close succession, helped by the positive impact substitutes Martin Ødegaard and Kai Havertz had also made.
Importantly, it would be easy to say that Arsenal are just lucky to have this luxury and star quality that can a change a game. However, having them is one thing. Knowing when and how to use them is another. This is something Mikel Arteta has mastered. His timing for these substitutions has been perfect and when required to make bolder choices has unsurprisingly not struggled to do so. It took Guimarães just twelve minutes to score after coming on against Sunderland and against Leeds he left his mark in just seven. This isn't a coincidence. Arteta has quickly learned the best way in which his squad can contribute to a game, something that is proving invaluable, especially at this moment where his starting team are struggling to impact the game for long periods.
The clearest example of his bold decision making came just this Sunday. Replacing Eberechi Eze at half time was a decision that could have drawn criticism if it backfired, but Arteta had correctly realised that Arsenal needed a different dynamic on that left-hand side. Madueke provided that, finding the breakthrough himself, vindicating Arteta once again.
Here however is where the praise and celebration may need tempering slightly. Winning with substitutes is impressive, but the reason Arsenal need them is growing increasingly problematic.
Arsenal's last eight goals in all competitions have come in the second half. Against Forest, they didn't register a single shot on target until the goal. which arrived in the 80th minute. Eighty minutes. For a team with Arsenal's individual quality and ambitions, that is not a slow start. It's a serious concern, that has been developing for weeks.
Whatever is going wrong for Arteta's team in the first half of games, whether it's a lack of tempo, lack of cutting edge and risk or a lack of imagination, needs to be fixed. The worry is that relying on your substitutes to win games each week is a strategy that has an expiry date. To put it plainly, it works until it doesn't. Brighton is the example staring so many fans in the face.
That was a game where Arsenal's slow start was emphatically punished, leaving Arsenal no chance to find a way back and ultimately losing the game well. This will not be the only time this scenario appears, with the Premier League the most competitive it's ever been, the substitutions will not always work. The right change at the right time will sometimes fail to produce the moment it desires.
With the expectations around this team being higher than ever and with title races decided by the tightest of margins, a couple of dropped points in games that should have been controlled from the start can matter enormously. Waiting patiently and continuing to play uninspiring football for 60 minutes, whilst hoping the cavalry turns up is not a plan you can trust across a 38-game campaign. The starters must do more.
This is not to say that Arsenal fans shouldn't be encouraged by what they have seen so far. Last season proved this group could survive adversity, and this season it is showing it can win through sheer quality. But the best teams do not need to be rescued as many times as Arsenal are being right now. With what Madueke called "absurd" squad depth post-Forest, they need their first eleven to do more.
If they can do that, their depth becomes a luxury and not a lifeline, making Arsenal an even more daunting task for the rest of the Premier League to face.