Arsenal: Left Field Right Wing Solutions

Arsenal have a major problem at right wing, with many players trying to prove their quality. However, there are some rather left field solutions to the conundrum that Arsene Wenger could well explore.

Arsenal have one of the best squads entering a season for many years. There is a lack of cutting edge quality at certain positions that need addressing over the coming months. However, there are very few positions of genuine concern which could derail the coming year.

One possible issue to limit the success of the side is center half. Laurent Koscielny has the first place locked down, but who to play alongside him is a battle between Per Mertesacker and Gabriel Paulista, neither being particularly convincing victors. However, perhaps the biggest position of uncertainty is right wing.

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Unlike center half, there are plenty of options to fulfil this role, it’s simply that none are instil confidence. The main nominations are Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Alex Iwobi, Theo Walcott and Joel Campbell, though the latter is rather unlikely with Arsene Wenger’s feeling towards him. There is not a clear cut answer, which offering their respective positives and negatives. So, here are some left field solutions that Wenger could turn to instead this season.

The first is Serge Gnabry . The young German winger is a rather forgotten man at Arsenal after enduring a difficult season, including a loan spell at fellow Premier League Club West Bronwich Albion which did not reap the anticipated development. However, the year before, injuries to Walcott and Chamberlain provided Gnabry with a chance in the first team, and he impressed greatly, scoring one league goal in five starts. It wasn’t however, his goal scoring exploits that built excitement around his potential. It was instead his youthful naivety, his fearlessness to drive at opposing defenders, his willingness to take players on, commit them to tackles they did not want to make and ultimately create chances from that left wing. If Wenger is need of a spark this year, then Gnabry could well be the man he turns to.

The second option that Wenger may employ on that troublesome right wing is Jack Wilshere. Like Aaron Ramsey before him, Wilshere is facing an uphill task to force his way into a crowded central midfield. The addition of Granit Xhaka only adds to Wenger’s ever increasing options, and Wilshere could find himself on the bench more often than not.

However, Wenger has previously stated that he likes Wilshere in more advanced positions, where he is able to pick up the ball between the midfield and defense, spin and drive forward. With the form of Mesut Ozil last season, he will never get such an opportunity in a central position, and Wenger may well be forced to play Wilshere in a wider area if he is to accommodate his attacking talents.

While I have always been a supporter of pace on the wings to unlock the full potential of Mesut Ozil, if Wenger chooses to play Theo Walcott up front instead of Olivier Giroud, then utilizing the more intelligent movement of Wilshere on the right to link up with Ozil and an overlapping Hector Bellerin is not a tactic that I would be opposed to.

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Arsenal have a lot of options to satisfy their right wing needs. However, without investment between now and the 31^st August deadline, none of them are able to stake a claim, wholeheartedly, to an undoubted first team place. That may well see Wenger turn to a left field option, and both Gnabry and Wilshere could be called upon this year.

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