Morning all.
Well, here we go. The run-in begins with an FA Cup quarter-final away to Southampton this evening, and it’s a chance for Mikel Arteta to use his squad in a way which might mitigate some of the injury concerns we have. It’s not to take anything for granted, simply a chance for the manager to use the full depth of his squad in a way which will hopefully benefit us in the weeks to come.
At his press conference yesterday, he confirmed that both Martin Odegaard and Jurrien Timber were in contention for today’s game, although Piero Hincapie, Eberechi Eze and Noni Madueke were definitely out. The time frame for the latter appears to be quite short, but there was no suggestion of when the first two might return.
As for the others, the likes of Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka, Gabriel, William Saliba, Leandro Trossard, and Martin Zubimendi, he said:
You will see, I will continue the speculation so you can do it and you can judge it afterwards, if what I say was right or you have to maybe change and delete and write something else!
There are players for whom this game should provide minutes. After a good display for England U21s, Myles Lewis-Skelly ought to start this one in the absence of Hincapie, and because Riccardo Calafiori played 120 minutes in midweek and ended up on the end of the wrong result for Italy. It would also be the kind of game Christian Norgaard could start in midfield, and if the captain is fit and ready, then these could be very useful minutes for Odegaard as we ready-up for what are a pivotal few weeks for the club.
I have to say, while I understand some frustration with Odegaard’s season, I think we have to take into account how punctuated it has been by injury. Two shoulder problems, two knee problems, it’s hard to find your best form when everything is so stop-start. That’s obviously a frustration in itself, but I think it’s quite interesting how the discourse around him has changed from him being a problem for the team (not something I agree with, by the way), to someone we need back because we lack creativity. Absence making the heart grow a little fonder, I guess.
Beyond that though, in the Premier League, he ranks third in this team (joint with Trossard) for chances created this season. Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka are 1 and 2 in that ranking, and it’s worth noting they take a lot of the corners which cause such danger, and both have played far more. Rice has 2585 minutes under his belt, Saka 2002, and Odegaard just 1078 in comparison. To have the best chance of winning the league, we need the captain to find some measure of form because his creative influence is obvious, so hopefully today is a first step back towards that.
Further forward, I suspect Viktor Gyokeres will be eased back into action after his Interlull exploits, so it could be a start for Gabriel Jesus up front, another player for whom some minutes and rhythm could prove beneficial. On the right, it might well be an opportunity to give Max Dowman a start, while the left hand side could see Gabriel Martinelli get the nod if there are still some concerns over Trossard.
As for today’s opposition, they’re in decent form of late, unbeaten in their last 14 games, and at home under the lights they’ll certainly want to have a go and cause an upset. Cup football can be a strange beast at times, something I’m sure Mikel Arteta will prepare his team for, but he’ll also want his team to get back to winning ways as quickly as possible after defeat in our last outing before the break.
On this competition, he says:
Huge competition, which is so related to the history of our football club. We’re going to play a team that is in a really good moment, they have won so many games recently. You know the expectations, the crowd, the environment that they are going to create, so we are ready for that. We want to be at Wembley again, so tomorrow we have the opportunity to do that again.
So, let’s keep fingers crossed we can do the business, chalk this one off, and get into this one-game-at-a-time run that is so important over the coming weeks. As ever you can follow the game on the live blog later, and we’ll have all the post-match stuff on Arseblog News too.
Until then.