Arsenal were overwhelmed by the juggernaut that is Manchester City on Wednesday. The Gunners have been unable to recover from the losses of William Saliba and Takehiro Tomiyasu and Rob Holding’s deputising role has been exploited in the side’s poor run.
That said, the group beyond Holding has been disappointing and it would be unfair to lay blame at the feet of the experienced centre-half. Mikel Arteta has hardly rotated his side throughout the four-game winless run, making it very easy to predict who might start.
The absences of Oleksandr Zinchenko and Granit Xhaka have forced some variation in the group but their returns saw the immediate switch to the norm. Similar to when Gabriel Jesus returned to full fitness, the impressive Leandro Trossard was then dropped and the Gunners haven’t won a game since the Belgian returned to the bench.
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Mikel Arteta believes that there is the possibility of making changes in the group, however. When asked whether he would be able to predict what City might do ahead of the game Arteta said: “The answer is no because I don't know their line-up!
“Once we have the line-up, we will have more of a rough idea but it depends on who they play. They can do something different, just like we can.”
The evidence is however against the Spaniard and the majority guessed what team would start at the Etihad. Meanwhile, Arteta was right about the Man City side which surprised many with Manuel Akanji starting at left-back in place of the injured Nathan Ake.
When you look at the Man City squad it isn’t really the 25-man group that the Premier League allows it is more so a group of around 18 players who are all at a level where they could start for Pep Guardiola’s side without seeing the level in quality drop by much if at all.
Man City’s 18-man group: Ederson, Kyle Walker, John Stones, Ruben Dias, Aymeric Laporte, Nathan Ake, Manuel Akanji, Rodri, Kalvin Phillips, Ilkay Gundogan, Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva, Jack Grealish, Phil Foden, Riyad Mahrez, Julian Alvarez and Erling Haaland. 18-year-old Rico Lewis has played a number of Premier League games and effectively replaced the 18th member Joao Cancelo who left on loan in January.
City have a number of other younger players like Cole Palmer, Sergio Gomez and Maximo Perrone who are often on the bench. Stefan Ortega, the backup goalkeeper, has also proven to be an asset in cup competitions.
Meanwhile, consider Arsenal’s best XI, which disappointingly has only started on seven occasions this season with the side winning all seven, and the difference in depth is staggering. The team consisting of: Aaron Ramsdale, Ben White, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Thomas Partey, Granit Xhaka, Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Jesus and Gabriel Martinelli has been the bedrock of the title challenge this season.
Yet, beyond the XI Arsenal have had only Leandro Trossard and Kieran Tierney as competitive options to push the starting group. Emile Smith Rowe has missed the majority of the season having undergone surgery but even then leaves the Gunners five top-quality players short of their title rivals.
This creates two problems when dealing with injuries and also squad rotation. Some players like Takehiro Tomiyasu and Eddie Nketiah can be useful in covering absences and have proven to do so.
Sporting director Edu Gaspar is the man tasked with this and not only that but overseeing the improvement of the sales sector of the club. It will be a massive period that could determine the longer-term future of the side and whether this season was a one-off or the beginning of Arsenal’s return to establishing itself at the top again.
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