Arsenal: Time to find out how important Lucas Torreira really is

Arsenal will finally be able to utilize Lucas Torreira after what felt like an eternity without. As such, it’s time to figure out just how important he is.

I feel like we haven’t seen Lucas Torreira play since 2013. After his ridiculous red card Tottenham, with a complimentary three-match suspension, Arsenal have been without the Uruguayan’s services, while Danny Rose has been happily plodding along at Tottenham for committing a worse version of the same foul as Torreira.

Regardless, Torreira can come back now, and not a moment too soon. Just a few days back I was talking about how our midfield was so stacked that we didn’t even need to stress about Torreira’s absence, but that was with Granit Xhaka.

Without him, it’s been a completely different story. Against Everton, the Arsenal midfield was completely flattened, as the duo of Matteo Guendouzi and Mohamed Elneny proved futile.

Rumor has it that Granit Xhaka isn’t going to be fit for the Napoli match, as Unai Emery has called him a ‘doubt,’ but on the bright side, Torreira is back. So it’s time to see just how much of a fix he can be.

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Torreira has been one of the most exciting performers this season, but he’s tapered off in recent matches as his weaknesses have come to light. He’s a bit loose with the ball. He pushes too hard forward at times and he isn’t the best at defending one-on-one in space.

All of which can and will be improved upon, as he’s a young man with tremendous potential, but in the here and now, we need to see some solidity in that midfield, or it’s going to get run over yet again.

Torreira’s biggest strengths have been his ability to read passing lanes and tenaciously defend his territory, with glimpses of attacking instincts that make him comparable to Ramsey in that regard, as well as his engine.

But without Xhaka, and with Guendouzi and Elneny proving inadequate, we need to see if Torreira can be the anchor we so desperately need. The problem is, we need control. And Torreira isn’t exactly a font of control. He’s got the Guendouzi gene of being high-energy, never sitting still. Hence his weakness of getting too rambunctious when he doesn’t need to.

If nothing else, Torreira is hungrier than ever before, and that may work to our advantage or… it may not. Let’s just wait and see.