Arsenal: Perfection the pursuit for Matteo Guendouzi

Arsenal have a killer midfield, but they aren’t staying content as they are, especially with Matteo Guendouzi, who has perfection in the scopes.

Arsenal had a lot of things to look forward to going into this season. The Fab Four looked truly special, the striking pair was remarkable, they had a new keeper – all kinds of fun things to develop. But nothing has been quite as strong, exciting and reliable as the midfield trio of Lucas Torreira, Granit Xhaka and Matteo Guendouzi.

These three, when played together provide the perfect foundation to both assist the defense and be a backboard for the attack. They cover all the bases, they defend well, they pass well, they control the ball well, there’s enough energy to go around and enough toughness too.

The biggest surprise of the bunch has been Guendouzi, though, who came as a relative unknown and hit the ground running with two fantastic performances against Manchester City and Chelsea, arguably the sole bright spot of the whole ordeal.

It hasn’t all been smooth sailing for the young Frenchman, but he has come out the other end looking even better than he did in those initial two matches that showcased just how good he could be at winning the ball.

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Since that time, his passing has flirted with Xhaka-like levels and his defensive work rate isn’t all that dissimilar from the ball hound Torreira.

And now, we have reports that coaches are working with Guendouzi on one particular weakness – tracking the runs of opposing midfielders.

It’s a very specific weakness, and the fact that the coaches can be so specific is a testament to how much he has improved. Frankly, I was concerned about offensive output at the start, but his passing and ball control has improved drastically and he’s showing potential to be a reliable creator from depth in the very near future.

Honestly, I’ve been so caught up in his successes that I haven’t even been watching how well he tracks opposing midfielder runs. Which is why I’m not a coach. Which is also why it’s clear that the expectations on Guendouzi are incredibly high – he is expected to do it all, to be the perfect midfielder.

At at this point, why can’t he? He’s only 19 and the specificity of his weaknesses and the work being put in to iron them out is so obviously special. And the best part is that he keeps showing how quickly he can make improvements, so it’s not like we’ll be waiting for perfection for long.