If one thing has become clear over the past few weeks, it's that small margins are going to define this season's Premier League. Over the course of any ordinary title race draws at Liverpool and West Ham might be considered decent results, but up against the relentless excellence of Manchester City only perfection will do.
On Sunday Arsenal were far from that. Having raced into a two-goal lead, the Gunners found themselves pegged back by a West Ham side who had looked dead and buried.
As Jarrod Bowen volleyed home the equaliser, Mikel Arteta turned to his bench looking for someone to change the tide of the match. Despite making five substitutions though, the Spaniard's most proven difference maker remained sat in the dugout.
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By Emile Smith Rowe's own admission, this campaign has been the toughest of his career so far.
After starting last season in blistering form, the 22-year-old saw his progress disrupted by a groin injury that had left him playing in pain since his teen years. Despite disruption in the second half of the campaign Smith Rowe was still able to finish the season as Arsenal's second highest goalscorer and went away for a training camp in Spain ahead of pre-season with the ambition of reclaiming his starting spot.
As pre-season came around though, his groin problems flared up again and just as he appeared to be building back up to full strength, the Hale Ender suffered a tendon tear in September's 3-1 defeat to Manchester United that saw him have to limp out of the warm down. With the injury being as serious as a tear the opportunity now presented itself to have a surgery that could fix the issue once and for all. That presented new challenges in itself for Smith Rowe.
“I’ve never had surgery before so at the start I was quite worried because I didn’t know what was going to happen,” he said last month. “I didn’t know if I was going to be the same after it.”
Thankfully though Smith Rowe is back and training pain free. Despite this though, the 22-year-old has been given more than 10 minutes to show his abilities on just two occasions since his return. While Arsenal have been keen to manage his return carefully, Arteta has implied that is also down to Smith Rowe himself to change this.
“He knows how much we love him, and we know how much we missed him and how much we need his qualities," the Spaniard told football.london last month. “And now he needs to prove it, he needs to prove how much he wants to win, and how much he’s going to contribute to this team to be better and win. He’s going to have to show that to get in the team."
In fairness to Smith Rowe all indications from London Colney are that he has been training superbly. The England international is now also setting personal bests in relation to strength and conditioning and reports are that he is lean with a focus on nutrition.
Of course, getting back into this Arsenal team is no cake walk. Across the front line Bukayo Saka is a nailed on starter and in Smith Rowe's absence Gabriel Martinelli has had an outstanding season, while Gabriel Jesus has been talismanic since his arrival from Manchester City. Interestingly enough though Smith Rowe has been training this season in the central midfield positions where Arteta has implied his future lies. Even there however, he faces a battle to displace either the club captain Martin Odegaard or Granit Xhaka who has been in the form of his life this campaign.
However, as Arsenal enter the home stretch of the title race there are few players in the squad with a better track record for deciding games than Smith Rowe. Of the 11 goals he scored last season, seven were ones that put the Gunners in front. With Arsenal now in a position where they could legitimately need to win every game between now and the end of the season, this quality could be invaluable.
Having shaken off his injury troubles, the Hale Ender is now in position where he's ready to make the difference once again. It's now up to Arteta to give him the chance.
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