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Arsenal are seemingly paving the way for Alex Iwobi to start against Liverpool, but do we trust him enough to give him the reigns?
Arsenal need everyone on their roster to buck up against Liverpool, who are favorites to challenge Manchester City for the Premier League title this year. Just about everyone is already ruling out the potential of an upset here, but Unai Emery won’t be so quick to throw in the towel.
His first obstacle comes in team selection. Given how the team lined up against Blackpool, there isn’t much question what Emery plans to do. He plans to have everyone hold down their spot from the Crystal Palace match, with the exception of Granit Xhaka likely moving up to his usual position in midfield.
Meaning that, among all the other questions regarding who will or won’t shot up, is Alex Iwobi. One of the standouts thus far into the year, Iwobi rattled everyone’s confidence in him a bit with his atrocity against Palace.
He was so bad that it harkened back to the past two years, when fans lost complete faith in him and were resigned to seeing him sold. Or maybe ‘resigned’ isn’t the best word, because most people liked the idea of recouping some profit on his disappointments.
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His very demeanor this year was enough to reassure fans that things had changed. His confidence alone was unlike anything we had seen since his first breakthrough all those years ago.
I made the point after the Palace draw that Iwobi won’t likely be using his starting spot because of one bad performance, and he really shouldn’t. He’s earned that spot, much more convincingly than either Mkhitaryan or anyone else that tried to have a go at the spot.
But my question is, factoring in everything we’ve seen from the young Nigerian this year, do we trust him against Liverpool? I ask because, despite how terrible Mkhitaryan has been this year, his experience might be seen as much more viable weapon than Iwobi’s youthful enthusiasm (that turned reckless against Palace).
I don’t see any doubt that Iwobi will start, but I still don’t feel that good about it, even though I wish I did. I want to believe in him and what he’s been able to do, but the rebound is the important thing here.
If that came against Liverpool, well, that would be perfectly okay with me.