Arsenal Vs Crystal Palace: Lucas Torreira the lone spark

There wasn’t much great about Arsenal’s performance in Sunday’s 2-2 draw against Crystal Palace. But Lucas Torreira was a lone spark worthy of recognition.

Sunday afternoon’s 2-2 draw against Crystal Palace might well have been Arsenal’s worst performance of the season. While they were defeated in the season’s two opening matches, against Manchester City and Chelsea, those were games that they were expected to lose, especially so early in Unai Emery’s tenure.

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This was different. Yes, it was away from home. And yes, the Gunners were dealing with some defensive injuries that forced some uncomfortable selection decisions. And yes, Crystal Palace are an extremely dangerous team; they can cause great damage, particularly at home. But this was still an extremely underwhelming collective display.

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I can only really think of two players who played anywhere near their ability, and one of them was Bernd Leno in net. The other, however, was a demonstrative, masterful midfield display from a player who is only growing in stature as he settles into life in north London. Lucas Torreira continues to impress.

Starting at the foot of the Arsenal midfield alongside Matteo Guendouzi, who was his quintessential aloof self, drifting in his position and frequently isolating his midfield partner, Torreira was wonderfully scrappy, industrious and committed, rivalling the physical challenge of Cheikhou Kouyate and marshalling the continual movement of the front three — Andros Townsend, Wilfried Zaha and Jordan Ayew — who repeatedly tried to drop in front of the defence, receiving passes on the counter-attack in the pockets of space just behind the midfield.

Torreira attempted three tackles. He won them all. He made three interceptions. He completed four clearances and another three blocks. He was all over the pitch, charging down Palace players, throwing himself into tackles, reading the game with great anticipation — there were seemingly thousands of examples when Torreira would nip in and snuff out a Palace counter as he pressured the first touch of an attacker because he had already read where the pass was heading.

He also looked comfortable in possession, controlled on the ball, progressive in his distribution. He completed 92% of his passes, 10% higher than his midfield partner Guendouzi, and of the 74 passes that he completed, 40 — over half — were directed forwards. That is excellent production from a player primarily used for his defensive work rate and reading of the game.

Arsenal did struggle to control the midfield at times and Torreira should be held somewhat accountable for that. But it is inaccurate to use team elements and statistics to wholly analyse an individual’s performance (if a midfielder creates five chances but his teammates miss them all, he shouldn’t be criticised for his team’s inability to score).

Torreira was close to his best, even when Arsenal, as a collective, were nowhere near. He has been a terrific signing thus far and is one of the brightest sparks of the season thus far. It was no different on Sunday.