Arsenal: Will lack of width come back to bite?

If Arsenal do play Mesut Ozil and Henrikh Mkhitaryan as inverted wingers opposite of one another, as is expected, could the potential lack of width come back to bite them or will the overwhelming creative force overcome such possible restrictions?

The swap has been made: Alexis Sanchez is a Manchester United player; Henrikh Mkhitaryan is an Arsenal player.

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Given that Sanchez had just six months remaining on his contract, was the subject of keen interest from a wide array of clubs, including Pep Guardiola and Manchester City, and likely threatened to engineer exit for nothing at the end of the season without playing another minute of football for the Gunners, Arsene Wenger did fairly well to secure the signing of a talented, if a little misused and misunderstood, player in Mkhitaryan.

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The question now for Arsenal, then, is how does the Armenian fit into this current iteration? With a plethora of creative midfielders already at the club, including Mesut Ozil, who, while also having just six months remaining on his contract, has been in truly awesome form this season and is the attacking linchpin of the team, it is not necessarily that clear where Wenger will position Mkhitaryan.

Perusing the current team, the most likely departee from the starting line-up is Alex Iwobi. Presently, Wenger has fielded a front three consisting of Ozil and Iwobi flanking Alexandre Lacazette, who has ploughed the lone striker role admirably. That strikeforce has been supported by a midfield trifecta that boasts two box-to-box players — if all are fit, if Wenger chooses to persist with the same shape, it is likely that those two roles will be filled by Aaron Ramsey and Jack Wilshere, two inherently creative, attacking midfielders.

If that is the type of personnel and formation that Wenger chooses to implement, then there is one key attacking shortcoming that could derail the whole operation: width, or a lack thereof.

Both Mkhitaryan and Ozil prefer to play centrally. As inverted wingers, they will naturally drift into the central areas of the pitch, contracting the space with which Ramsey and Wilshere can work in. When playing in a 3-4-3 shape, that is perfectly acceptable because the two wing-backs are present, ensuring that there is a wide threat, stretching the pitch, and thereby the spaces in central zones.

However, in a 4-3-3-type structure that Wenger would more likely use, the wing-backs are more traditional full-backs, shackled with a greater defensive responsibility, meaning that they cannot provide the same attacking threat in the wide channels. And if Wenger was to switch to a 3-4-3, then he would have to sacrifice the presence of either Ramsey or Wilshere in central midfield — the two could not provide the defensive security and stability necessary as a midfield pair.

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As a result, while Mkhitaryan is an undoubtedly talented and creative player, his playing creates one key problem that Wenger must be acutely aware of. His Arsenal teams have been caught too narrow in the past. There is a very real possibility that it could happen again here.