Arsenal: The unique advantage of World Cup failure

Arsenal begun their preseason activities this week. And they have a unique advantage over their competitors. None of their best players are at the World Cup.

Arsenal begin their preseason activities this week. A lot of change has taken place at London Colney over the summer, obviously, with the departure of Arsene Wenger and the shifting of power in the background. But now it’s time to focus on what happens between the white lines.

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That means that the hard work starts now for Unai Emery, who is taking his first preseason at the club. And Emery will have a unique advantage over many of his Premier League rivals this summer that comes as a result of Arsenal’s failure to get players into their national team’s World Cup squads.

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After the group stage, the Gunners only have five players left in the competition: David Ospina, Nacho Monreal, Granit Xhaka, Stephan Lichtsteiner, and Danny Welbeck. Of those five players, as of writing, one, in Monreal, has already exited the competition, with Xhaka, Lichtsteiner, Ospina and Welbeck all set to play later today — I am writing this on Tuesday morning. It could very easily transpire, then, that there is only one Arsenal player in the quarter-finals. That is not good, especially considering they had three World Cup winners four years ago.

But for Emery, that is a special advantage. As his players return for the summer this week, there are not many players that he will be without. In fact, of the regular first-team starters, only Xhaka, Monreal and Mesut Ozil will not be with the team. All the others that are still away are not established starters.

The likes of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Aaron Ramsey, Hector Bellerin and Shkodran Mustafi never even travelled, with them either failing to make their national squads or their national teams not qualifying for the tournament. They will all be present from day one, with Emery able to work in detail with every single one from the very first minute.

Contrast that to Manchester City who will be without Sergio Aguero, Kevin de Bruyne, Fernandinho, David Silva, Vincent Kompany and a myriad of others; Manchester United will not have Romelu Lukaku, Nemanja Matic, Paul Pogba, David de Gea. Chelsea, who still don’t really have a manager in place, by the way, will be missing Eden Hazard, Olivier Giroud, N’Golo Kante, Thibault Courtois. Liverpool won’t have any of their brilliant front three with them.

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And Arsenal are almost at full strength from the very first day. That will help them. Emery’s plans can be implemented immediately without too many players missing the instruction, the players can be made match-sharp for the first match of the season, which, incidentally, is against Man. City, and the collective spirit can be instilled quickly and early. This is a huge benefit for Emery.