Arsenal have moved themselves to the top of the Premier League by finding a plan A that works. Whereas in the early stages of his tenure in charge Mikel Arteta chopped and changed systems to suit the opposition, his side now have a distinguished style of play.
Oleksandr Zinchenko and Ben White flood the midfield to give the Gunners dominance. Further up the pitch Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli have been imperious, while the movement of Gabriel Jesus has been too much to live with.
It is largely for this reason that Arsenal have already scored 12 more goals than they managed in the whole of last season. Even someone as principled as Arteta will have a plan B though.
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"Players can't maintain the same level for 10 months — it's just impossible," the Spaniard said last month. "We need to change, and we have to generate alternatives and be more unpredictable for opponents sometimes as well. We have those options now."
Arteta will be mightily relieved then with the return to training of Eddie Nketiah. The 23-year-old was spotted back among the group on Tuesday having missed a month and a half of football with an ankle injury.
For many his absence has passed slightly under the radar. Prior to his injury, Nketiah had not scored for six matches, with sections of the fanbase beginning to turn on him. For Arteta though his return could be invaluable.
The Spaniard worked hard to convince Nketiah to sign a new deal in the summer precisely because he wanted to add more strings to the bow of his Arsenal attack. Yes Nketiah does not have the movement of a Gabriel Jesus or even a Leandro Trossard when playing in the position. The centrality he offers when compared to his competitors up front though is completely unique.
"I’m not trying to replace (Jesus) and I’m not trying to be him," Nketiah said when first drafted in to the Arsenal team to replace Jesus after his injury at the World Cup. "I can’t do what he does and he can’t do what I do. We’re different players but at the end of the day we both want to help the team. Whether it’s me or him, we both support each other. I wish him a speedy recovery and hopefully I can continue to help the team."
In a title race where both Arsenal and Manchester City have their destiny in their own hands, fine margins could be decisive. Nketiah is not the pressing machine that Jesus and Trossard are, and his ability to bring other players into the game might not stack up to those levels. What he does offer though is a clinical edge in the box that other striking options don't have.
His goals in the absence of Jesus are a key reason why Arsenal are still in this title race against what is a formidable City side. He may not be his first point of call, but Arteta will be delighted to have the variety that Nketiah offers back among his options.
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