Arsenal Vs Brentford: Matteo Guendouzi reasserts his talent

If there were ever any doubts regarding Matteo Guendouzi after a recent mini-slump, they were put to bed in Arsenal’s 3-1 win over Brentford. The 19-year-old reasserted his talent.

I love the early rounds of the domestic cups. While the Europa League has an awkwardness that I often struggle to enjoy, the EFL Cup and FA Cup have a homely, comforting feel to them as teams rotate through their squads, bleed young players into the senior team, and begin their knockout endeavours for another year.

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For Arsenal, they began their domestic-cup journey on Wednesday night, hosting Championship Brentford who offered a unique and dangerous threat for a lower-league opposition. In the end, it was a comfortable 3-1 victory. But Brentford gave it good and pushed their hosts hard in the second half. Nevertheless, with a weaker team, Unai Emery recorded his first win in the EFL Cup.

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And there was one player who was at the heart of the Arsenal performance, who brilliantly conducted the match with accurate, metronomic passing, who provided those crucial pieces of quality to open a deep-lying and stubborn defence, who was the stand-out figure right in the centre of the pitch. Matteo Guendouzi was phenomenal. Again.

After a burgeoning preseason and start to the campaign, Guendouzi’s performances had dipped a little from such high standards. He was substituted at half-time against Newcastle United and then was dropped altogether the next week against Everton, with Lucas Torreira seemingly now taking his starting spot. But if there was ever any doubts that his immediate success was nothing more than beginner’s luck and an adrenaline-fuelled purple patch, he emphatically put them to bed on this showing.

The quality of the opposition, of course, should be taken into account. Brentford are a good team that play nice football. But they are no Manchester City. And yes, he did foolishly fell Moses Odubajo on the edge of the penalty area to perfectly lay Aaron Judge up for a beautiful set-piece strike. But overall, Guendouzi, I thought, was utterly phenomenal.

His calmness and composure on the ball is outstanding, especially for a player of his age. He is confident and sure of himself, meaning that he is more than happy to demand the ball from his teammates, he brings a lovely balance of risk and safety, recognising when to push the envelope with his passing and when to prioritise the preservation of possession, and he provides a smoothing presence in the midfield, just lending the ball to others before getting it back. And at the heart of it all is a wonderful and rare ability to pass the ball.

More than just possessing the technical skill to play a variety of passes, Guendouzi boasts the vision, awareness and poise to pick out the right pass at almost every venture. He sees the pitch beautifully, rarely missing an opportunity, understands the spaces in which he is trying to exploit with his distribution, and acknowledges how to further the team’s attacking play in that moment. He is, quite simply, a brilliant passer of the ball. Oh, and if you happened to forget, he is only 19 years old.

I must admit, I was a little worried with his recent slip in form (it’s a little harsh to call it anything more than a slip, such were the quality of his performances to open the year). But this display very quickly soothed any fears. Guendouzi reasserted his talent. It was wonderful to watch.