Arsenal: ‘Taking chances’ an impressive theme for early Unai Emery

Arsenal have a lot of solid options, and that solidity is only being reinforced every time new players take their chances as well as they have been.

Arsenal have a good stock of players, and it’s up to Unai Emery to rotate them around to find the best combination for the type of team that he wants to build here. In the process of doing that, players have to be aware that when they’re handed a chance, they really need to take it.

They need to assert themselves and show the new manager that they are everything he wants them to be.

This is another area that I feel Arsene Wenger fell short in. He didn’t seem to inspire his players too much. Perhaps they were just too comfortable with him, and that’s the only fault to be found here, but regardless of how it was happening, it’s not happening now.

Now, Emery’s players are taking their chances masterfully. No, I’m not talking about their chances on goal. That still has its deficiencies at times. I’m talking about the chances in the starting XI, or on the pitch at all.

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Consider all the players that have thrown into the fray, whether by Unai Emery’s will or not. Sokratis has been stuck in there as a starter from the off, and he’s been incredibly reliable in the center of that defense.

Alexandre Lacazette and Lucas Torreira both had to have patience getting their chance, but when they got it, boy did they take it. They can’t be benched now, they’ve become too important.

After Watford, we have two more guys that have taken their chances incredibly well. Those two guys are Rob Holding and Bernd Leno.

Holding was a stalwart on defense against Watford, cleaning up messes and looking the far more experienced of the pairing. His tackles were perfectly timed, his positioning was strong. He just had a really good game.

Bernd Leno was cast into the team when Petr Cech went down injured. He was immediately called into action and made a fantastic save on a Troy Deeney volley.

He would go on to be remarkably composed and reliable in goal, barring his one collision with Shkodran Mustafi.

All in all, it was fantastic Premier League debut, same as Holding’s debut in the Premier League this year. Whatever Emery is doing, it’s working. And again, maybe it’s just the unfamiliarity this time, opposite of Wenger.