Watching the Champions League match between Manchester City and Real Madrid again demonstrated the gap between where Arsenal are and where they need to be. Most notable is the depth in both sides.
Arsenal watched on as Manchester City brought on Raheem Sterling and Fernandinho, whilst still having Ilkay Gundogan, Jack Grealish and Nathan Ake on the bench. Meanwhile, Madrid brought on Eduardo Camavinga, Dani Ceballos, Marco Asensio and Nacho Fernandez.
To close the gap, the Gunners need to improve the strength in depth of the team. One of the causes for Arsenal’s dip in form prior to victories over Chelsea and Manchester United was injuries.
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Kieran Tierney and Takehiro Tomiyasu were in the medical room for the trip to Crystal Palace. Arsenal have had to operate without their starting full-backs and Cedric Soares and Nuno Tavares starting together simply haven’t cut it.
Ben White came in to deputise for Cedric against Chelsea and thankfully Tomiyasu has almost returned to balance the defensive line for Tavares in the remaining games of the season. However, there have been suggestions that Arsenal could be looking to add a full-back.
In the last 24 hours, both Middlesbrough’s Djed Spence and Udinese’s Manuel Molina have been linked with a move to the Gunners. Spence, on loan with Nottingham Forest from Middlesbrough, pocketed Gabriel Martinelli in the FA Cup and has recently been named in the Championship team of the season.
Meanwhile, Molina is proving to be quite the player in Serie A. Although predominantly playing in a right wing-back role, he has seven goals and four assists so far this season. For context, that’s more goal contributions than Martinelli and the same as Martin Odegaard.
The links to both indicate this is a position Mikel Arteta is considering investing in. Wanting better quality and options with European football a strong possibility next season, it could also hint at Tomiyasu’s role changing.
Despite proving to be a great addition at right-back, the Japanese international is a versatile player who can play at either centre-half or even left-back. He regularly plays in the middle for his national team.
With the futures of Pablo Mari, Rob Holding and William Saliba not assured this summer, Tomiyasu might be considered a covering option for any who depart. This way, Arteta does not need to sign another central defender who might struggle for minutes and can instead bring in a quality full-back who can play with Tomiyasu if necessary and improve on existing starting options.
This would also, therefore, allow for Brooke Norton-Cuffy, an exciting young right-back impressing on loan with Lincoln City, to not see his future path to the first team blocked. With Cedric’s future at the club unsure, Norton-Cuffy could eventually fulfil his role ahead of pushing Tomiyasu and maybe either Molina or Spence for a place in the team.
The move makes sense and the shift in Tomiyasu’s responsibilities only furthers the sensibility of the decision. It will be interesting to see who the club decides to pursue at the conclusion of the season.
