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Kaya Kaynak

Mikel Arteta to make major Arsenal team gamble as Emile Smith Rowe set for new role vs Wolves

Mikel Arteta has a problem on his hands - he has too many in-form attacking players!

In Gabriel Martinelli, Emile Smith Rowe, Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard the Spaniard has four red hot players to fit into just three positions behind Alexandre Lacazette up top.

Sure, it's the kind of issue that most managers dream of. Deciding between which goalscoring and creating young talent to play across your front line is hardly Sophie's Choice, but it's a decision that needs to be made.

After Saturday's 2-1 win over Brentford though, Arteta seemed to indicate that he has a slightly unconventional solution to his dilemma.

With his strike against the Bees, Smith Rowe became the first Gunners academy graduate since Cesc Fabregas to hit double figures for the season, but in recent months it has generally been the 21-year-old who has had to sit on the sidelines.

While injuries have played their part in this, Saturday marked just a second Premier League start for the England international since the 3-2 defeat to Manchester United at the start of December. Now though it seems Arteta may have come up with a way to address that.

"I think he can play in four positions," said the Spaniard when asked about Smith Rowe's best position.

"He can play as a left winger, a left attacking midfielder, a right attacking midfielder and he can play as a nine, very, very well I think."

Generally when discussions have been had over how to get Saka, Odegaard, Smith Rowe and Martinelli into the same side, it has been assumed that the Brazilian would be the one to lead the line, but what if Smith Rowe did the job instead?

The idea of playing the Hale Ender up front is not exactly unheard of, but after last season's disastrous experiment away to Villarreal in the Europa League semi final first leg, it has largely been consigned to Room 101.

Perhaps now though could be the time to unlock that vault.

After the departures of Folarin Balogun and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in January Arsenal's only orthodox centre forwards are Lacazette and Eddie Nketiah, who between them have just three goals in the Premier League this season.

With a top four place up for grabs for the first time in five years, nothing can really be off the table, so let's take a look back on that night at the Estadio de la Ceramica to see happened with Smith Rowe up top.

On second viewing the first thing that stands out about the 21-year-old's performance, is his ability to drop deep and link the play.

In the image below from the very first minute against Villarreal, Smith Rowe can be seen dropping deep into a central area to receive the ball from Dani Ceballos.

He then quickly turns to play the ball through to Nicolas Pepe who is making a run from wide left in to the space that is being vacated by Raul Albiol who is stepping up to try and dispossess Smith Rowe.

This is remarkably similar to the kind of play Lacazette has been able to master in recent weeks for the Gunners.

In this example from the 2-0 win over West Ham, the Frenchman drops to receive the ball off Gabriel, dragging Craig Dawson out of the Hammers' central defence with him.

He then turns and plays a ball through to Martinelli who runs into the space vacated by Dawson, and goes on to finish past Lukasz Fabianski.

This would seem to suggest that Smith Rowe has the ability to do a pretty effective Lacazette impersonation up front, and what the 21-year-old has over the Frenchman is the mobility to get forward to be on the end of chances his teammates create for him, and a composure in front of goal to actually finish them.

His goals against AFC Wimbledon, Tottenham, Leicester and Watford have all come this season from the kind of late runs typical of a false nine.

Unfortunately the sample size to prove his link up play credentials against Villarreal was severely limited. An abysmal start to the game meant Arsenal spent much of the first half defending their own box, and although things did improve in the second half, a red card for Dani Ceballos put paid to any real progress, and effectively ended the false nine experiment.

While the Gunners' disciplinary record hasn't got much better since then, improvements elsewhere in the team could possibly provide a more favourable environment for a second run at it.

The Arsenal side that travelled to Spain back in April of last year, was one that was painfully slow in possession. On the night their most popular passing combination was from Pablo Mari to Granit Xhaka, who was playing left back for the night in the absence of Kieran Tierney, evidencing the pedestrian nature of their build up.

For a well drilled side like Unai Emery's Villarreal, this made the Gunners remarkably easy to play against, as a result defenders were less inclined to be drawn from their positions.

Now though the speed at which Arsenal play from front to back is quicker to such an extent that they tend to spend the majority of the game in the opposition half. This was evidenced on Saturday by the fact that the player with the most passes in the game was attacking midfielder Martin Odegaard.

The new look to this Gunners side in recent months suggests playing Smith Rowe up front could perhaps work after all.

However, it would not be without its drawbacks.

Aside from dropping deep and linking play, something a false nine has to do is win his duels in order to keep his team in possession and hold the ball up.

This is something Smith Rowe does not generally have the physicality to do. The 21-year-old can be a little brittle in the challenge at times, and on that night at the Estadio de la Ceramica, he won none of his four offensive duels.

Contrastingly, scrapping and battling with opposition centre backs is something Lacazette tends to do pretty well. His tussle with Pontus Jansson was instrumental in bringing about Bukayo Saka's goal against Brentford at the weekend, and in that match he won seven of his eight offensive duels.

On top of this, by playing Smith Rowe through the middle, you risk taking away one of his most important assets - his ability to progress the ball by dribbling.

The 21-year-old's goal on Saturday was the kind of play we've grown accustomed to this season, in which he glides down the left at immense pace before cutting inside and finishing well.

Playing the England international through the middle, where he is generally receiving the ball with his back to play rather than running on to it threatens his ability to do that.

Again going back to that night in Villarreal, the Hale Ender failed to complete a single dribble, while on Saturday he managed six, suggesting that he may be closer to his best out on the left.

As Arteta searches for a solution to his centre forward problem until the end of the season, it would seem that Smith Rowe certainly possesses the skillset to play as a false nine. Just because the Spaniard can play him there though, it doesn't necessarily mean that he should.

The idea of getting Smith Rowe on the pitch at the same time as Martinelli, Saka and Odegaard is certainly an appealing one, but if it means sacrificing the best attributes of the 21-year-old's game, then Arsenal may be best served looking elsewhere to set up their attack for their clash against Wolves.

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