morning.
Tonight we are in the Champions League against Atalanta, last season’s Europa League winners. The new complex format has been a topic of discussion, as has the proxy Super League, but the idea of playing on a Thursday, especially when there is a big game on Sunday, is a bit of a hassle.
Tonight, I think Mikel Arteta has some decisions to make regarding his starting lineup. I am concerned that Jurrien Timber is asking too much of him after he was ruled out of the game last season with an ACL injury. He has played four games already, has had a few internationals, and with Man City looming, I would be cautious of him in this game.
To be fair, the options aren’t bad. Riccardo Calafiori is back in the squad and giving him his first start in Italy makes some sense, if he’s fit enough to do so. There’s also Jakub Kiwior, who’s not particularly exciting but is a perfectly serviceable substitute. Timber could be brought on later if needed, but after a tough 90 minutes in the derby, I’m just a little concerned about starting him tonight and expect him to be in top form on Sunday.
With Declan Rice returning in midfield, one of Jorginho or Thomas Partey will probably be rested. Again, I wonder if Sunday comes into the equation. Partey is the man Arteta would take in that position, as his recent selection decisions suggest, but can that leg, which is clearly not the same, be starting three times a week? Jorginho could be the man to start. The question then is who will fill the Odegaard role if we set it up that way? It could be a similar system to the one deployed at White Hart Lane.
Atalanta are a good team and can cause problems for anyone on their best days, so don’t take them for granted, and I think this is a game where Arteta should consider using all the depth in his squad. If he wanted to ‘rest’ Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka, he has the comfort blankets of Gabriel Jesus and Raheem Sterling at his disposal. They’re not bad players, and with all due respect to Rhys Nelson et al, but they’re not the same as they would have been if he had tried to do that last season.
I think how we manage the squad will largely determine whether this season is a success or failure. We already have too many injuries, and as a fan, I think it’s more concerning than the manager or the players, but if you have quality players, you can mitigate some of the risk. I think at least one of Saka/Martinelli will start, but it wouldn’t be bad to see other players. After all, if necessary, you have to put them on the bench.
Ahead of the match, Arteta was asked if he would rotate his squad, and he dismissed the idea, saying:
No, we have to put out the players that we believe are the best to win tomorrow because it’s September. That’s the most important thing and the only thing for us.
And about tonight’s opposition:
It’s really hard to play against them. They have a special style of play that you can see every week and it’s really challenging for the opposition to play against them. The Premier League has changed a lot in the last two seasons and there are a lot of squads that do similar things to them and we have to be ready for tomorrow.
So it’s going to be a tricky night. Atalanta won’t give us a moment of peace, but the high-stakes, high-reward system can be exploited. Hopefully we can. If you want to know more about them and our potential team selections, you can get a preview podcast on Patreon, and you can follow the live blog coverage and all the post-match content on Arseblog News later.
—
Another newsworthy piece of news from the press conference was an update on Martin Odegaard. While he has kept it pretty quiet so far, the manager confirmed the injury is ‘serious’, saying:
After all the scans, they showed that he had damage to one of his ankle ligaments in particular, so we will miss him. I don’t want to put a time frame on it because I’m not a doctor, but it’s very important, so we will miss him for a while. Hopefully not for months, but we will see.
To be honest, it wasn’t completely unexpected, but it’s still a big deal to be confirmed. All we can do is hope that his return is a good one, and in the meantime, as we saw on Sunday, his teammates will help us win games in his absence. He’s the type of player that any team will miss, but there’s nothing we can do but try our best to overcome it.
Arteta continued:
We have to show that. He’s our captain, he’s one of our biggest players. He’s been one of our most consistent players over the last two or three seasons. Our identity is very much tied to the way he plays and how he behaves. We’ll have to deal with that, and it’s a big test for the team, how different we can be. The truth is we have other players and other options that can be very effective.
I think that’s the only public message he can send. Whatever he feels about it privately, and tonight will be another test without a captain. I was reminded of last season’s game against Porto, which was decided by a moment that maybe only Odegaard could have created, but that’s not the only moment you can have. I hope others step up until he’s fit again.
Okay, let’s stop here for now. See you later at the game. Come on, Reds!
