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Arsenal have finally transitioned Lucas Torreira into the starting XI and he’s growing into the role. Hopefully we can see more growth against Fulham.
Unai Emery was mighty patient working Lucas Torreira into the Arsenal starting XI in the Premier League. The young Uruguayan was finding his jollies in substitute roles and his influence was being seen big time.
Transition into a starter, and it’s been a slower build. Torreira has had moments of pure excellence, but he’s also had prolonged stages of us wanting more. The promise of seeing what he was capable of in the World Cup hasn’t been maxed in the Premier League yet.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, as it takes time to develop in the most competitive league in world football, but in the meantime, improvements are being noticed. And more are still needed.
I’m hoping to see a much more dominant Torreira against Fulham. There are parts of this Fulham attack that give me the jitters and I’d love to see Torreira governing the middle of the pitch, stomping out then embers of attacks before they can even get started.
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Mostly because we know Granit Xhaka is rather limited in that capacity.
Fulham have an active attack, backed by Jean Michael Seri, and they’re a team that has enjoyed a majority of possession thus far into the season. They will create chances, they will have opportunities, and it will largely fall on Torreira to make sure that those opportunities are, at the very least, slowed down before they reach our skeptical defensive outfit.
Plus, Torreira now has two yellow cards in two Premier League starts and, while he still lasted the full 90 both times, we all know that it just takes one more slip up after that yellow card to see him sent off, and then the Gunners are crippled.
I have my hesitations about this match, even being at the Emirates, but if Torreira is able to stand at his best and do what he was brought in to do, my hesitations can be done away with pretty quickly.
All I’m asking for is Torreira to continue his improvements as he has been. We get that it’s a slow grind, but just keep getting better and he’ll be N’Golo Kante 2.0 in no time, right?
Hopefully that can all continue against Fulham and hopefully he can avoid that early yellow card.