Arsenal: Francis Coquelin Return Can’t Interfere With Mohamed Elneny’s Trial

Arsenal will welcome Francis Coquelin back into the fray for the Crystal Palace match up, but that doesn’t mean he should start. In fact, he better not.

Arsenal had spent a good two months without showing much of anything in the Premier League. loss followed loss followed draws and it started to feel like the Gunners were more built for mid table than for European Football.

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That changed against West Ham, a club that Arsene Wenger probably wishes he could face every day. While it started slow, that first goal broke things open, as it tends to do for the Gunners. They found their stride, utilized the advanced positions that West Ham kept pushing for and turned the game in a comprehensive victory.

Which is something we have not had in quite some time.

More than just the attack went right, though. The defense was solid, with Gabriel and Shkodran Mustafi holding down that base two.

Most importantly, the middle of the pitch was on lock down. It had been the biggest problem of these past couple months. Granit Xhaka just wasn’t being used correctly. Whoever his partner was dictated where and  how the Swiss would play and it was just all sorts of broken.

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Mohamed Elneny had not been a part of the conversation in quite some time, so it was intriguing to see him in the starting XI, but still a tad worrisome. He is a midfielder built on good intentions, but intentions don’t always come off.

Elneny has had positive showings like this in the past. It isn’t the first time he has out-of-nowhere burst into the midfield conversation and demanded attention. However, most of the time he is nothing more than a fill-in and goes back to the bench when other options return.

Seeing Elneny be such a massive factor against West Ham deserves more investigation. The Egyptian was only filling in in Francis Coquelin‘s absence, but now that that absence is up, nothing should change. We need to see if Elneny can capitalize on his momentum and make his performance consistent. Because if so, the transfer talks this summer can be much more chilled.

Arsene Wenger was singing the praises of this partnership after the game, which should offer some hope that he is willing to give it another go. But with Aaron Ramsey and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain also returning, nothing is set.

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In any case, Coquelin should not be starting against Palace. Not for any reason. To shore up a late lead, absolutely, but not from the start, there is no sense in that.