Good morning.
A 7-1 lead from the first leg should give Mikel Arteta some leeway to rotate this evening when it comes to his team selection. If you’re Jakub Kiwior, Jorginho, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Kieran Tierney, and even Raheem Sterling, you’d be looking to start to this one. I also think it’s important give these guys minutes – even if some of them might be elsewhere next season, you never know what can happen with injury and suspension between now and the end of this campaign, so keeping them involved seems like an obvious thing to do in case they’re needed.
At right-back we should see Ben White start for the first time since his injury. The manager said they’ve been very cautious with him since the surgery and his return to the squad, but also that:
I think he’s in a good position now to give him a start.
Tonight, assuming he is ready, is a good chance to get competitive minutes under his belt. Jurrien Timber has done really well, but I think we need to be cognisant of how much he’s had to play in a season after an ACL injury, and a time-share option with him and Ben White for the remainder of this season will be beneficial for both of them, and the team.
The one thing I’d really like to see from tonight’s team selection is trying Gabriel Martinelli up front. Arteta has referenced him as a potential option before, and again when we suffered all the injuries, but it’s not something we’ve really seen too often before. However, with no chance of doing anything different until a striker returns (which won’t be until next season), this is the only real alternative from the current squad.
We’ve discussed and debated the various mechanisms through which we can be more effective as an attacking team without those players, and right now we have a stop-gap solution in the shape of Mikel Merino. No criticism of him, he’s done more or less as well as I think you could expect, but Martinelli is a natural forward, and tonight would be a good opportunity to see what he can do as the ‘9’.
If we’ve been accepting of the fact it might take a central midfielder a few games to get used to his new surroundings up front, then the same ought to apply to a winger being asked to play more centrally. I don’t think it’s as big a change, but it’s still a shift that takes a bit of time to get comfortable with. Going forward, you could look at a front line of Trossard, Martinelli, Nwaneri, with the return of Bukayo Saka to give you a boost as and when he’s ready, so let’s give this a try later on.
He’s not going to be a target man, but he is someone whose pace and movement means he can play on the shoulder of the defenders, and that kind of player might just provide a different dynamic to the way we can attack. That really feels like something we need at the moment, we’ve struggled to be as effective as we’d like with the current set-up, so this is a chance to at least attempt something else and see how it goes.
PSV will be playing for pride, and little else, but Arteta’s message to his players is simple:
You have to earn it and we’re going to have to do a great job tomorrow again to win the game.
After that, all eyes will be on Madrid to see how the second leg of that game turns out, and we’ll be able to look forward to that once we get our job done later on. As ever, you can join us for live blog coverage of the game, and all the post-match stuff on Arseblog News.
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William Saliba also spoke to the press yesterday, insisting there was no rush with his contract, and that he is happy at Arsenal. Amid reported interest from Real Madrid, he said:
I’m really happy here. I have two years and a half as well. There is nothing [to worry about]. I’m happy here and I want to continue here. I want to win big things with Arsenal. Because if you leave this club and you didn’t win anything, the fans and the people will forget about you. Of course, I want to win big things here.
On the one hand, that’s what footballers say when asked questions like this, there is no other answer. On the other, I think you can take him at face value to a large extent. You can see he’s happy, you can see how much every Arsenal goal means to him, and I’d go back to that period when he was out on loan and people worried if he’d get the chance at Arsenal.
He basically said ‘There’s no way I’m leaving without making the first team’, and he did. And if we are going to take that step forward and win trophies, there’s no doubt in my mind he’ll be a big part of it. And that it’s something he really wants. Yes, we have to ensure our best players are convinced to stay – not by financial means but by virtue of how good we are as a team – but that’s part of why the upcoming summer is so important.
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Right, that’s just about that. If you’re looking for something to listen to today to get you through until kick-off, we had a three podcast day on Patreon yesterday. We have a profile of Andrea Berta, set to become the club’s new Sporting Director; we have a PSV preview podcast; and we round up all the Premier League action in The 30.
For instant access to this and everything we do on Patreon, as well as supporting everything that’s free-to-air (so to speak), you can sign up for just $6 per month (+VAT where applicable) at patreon.com/arseblog.
Have a great Wednesday, catch you later for the game!
