Arsenal: Potential Alex Iwobi absence a lesson in desperation

Arsenal may be without Alex Iwobi against Manchester City, which puts them in a position of remembering what desperation feels like.

At first, I was all like, ‘Arsenal missing Alex Iwobi against Manchester City wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.’ Now I’m like, ‘yeah but… we aren’t equipped to deploy any other way, so what do we do now?’

I must admit, I was ill-informed and didn’t realize that Henrikh Mkhitaryan was ineligible for the Carabao Cup final. That is a real setback. You know what else is a real setback? The fact that without Iwobi, there really aren’t that many options in terms of what this club can do.

The coolest idea would be to deploy two strikers, but with Alexandre Lacazette injured, that is moot, because Danny Welbeck isn’t a striker.

Another idea would be to overload the midfield with Mohamed Elneny, Granit Xhaka, Jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey, but there is always a chance that Ramsey isn’t healthy enough either. Which means Ainsley Maitland-Niles could suit up in the center, but he has been, well, pretty awful in two matches in that role.

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Against Ostersunds.

And this is Manchester City.

We would deploy a team centered on width, utilizing wingers to feed Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in the middle and creating space for Mesut Ozil by stretching the defense only… we don’t have any wingers.

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So what’s left? Shoe-horning people into positions where they don’t belong. Also known as Arsene Wenger‘s favorite past time. Depending on who all is missing for the match, specifically between Ramsey and Iwobi, the formation may be, for lack of a better word, incomplete.

I think you can all see where this is going. Where the desperation really kicks in. It may come down to Danny Welbeck to fill the gaps because we simply don’t have anyone else.

Which, I’m sorry, is a terrible, horrible thing. Welbeck is devoid of confidence, he couldn’t accomplish much of anything in either leg against Ostersunds and, honestly, it’s not much different than Maitland-Niles position. If you couldn’t show up against “Swedish minnows” than how can you be expected to play up to par with Manchester City?

It’s dicey. This whole situation is dicey. All we can do is hope that Ramsey and Iwobi are both healthy because as it stands, Iwobi is our best option.

Next: Predicted XI Against City In The Carabao Cup Final

And oh, by the way, we really should address that in the summer. Maybe we need Nabil Fekir more than I initially thought.

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