Arsenal Vs Napoli: Lucas Torreira explodes out of his slump?

Lucas Torreira has not played at quite the same level as he was earlier in the season. After an extended rest due to suspension, will he explode out of his slump when Arsenal host Napoli on Thursday night?

Once he broke into the first team after the opening few weeks of the season, Lucas Torreira was a revelation in the heart of the Arsenal midfield. Relentlessly ratting around like a cat chasing a piece of string, the dogged Uruguayan showed all of the hardened qualities that the notoriously flimsy Gunners midfield suffered from for far too long.

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Marked performances against Cardiff City, Liverpool and Huddersfield Town punctuated an excellent start to life in north London, so much so that Torreira was very quickly heralded as the bargain of the season.

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But since that early explosion, Torreira’s form has deteriorated. Not to the extent that he is suddenly a problem player or a weakness in the team. But he has not been able to maintain the exceptionally high standards of his early-season performances — that, in reality, says more about the level of his play when he first arrived at the Emirates, rather than his subsequent tailing off.

Nevertheless, if Arsenal want to finish the season well, sneak into the top four and win the Europa League, they will need the early-season version of Torreira. Starting on Thursday night when Napoli come to London for the first leg in the Europa League quarter-final, Torreira needs to find the legs of September and October, not the more weary spring versions that have been holding his energetic influence back.

What is encouraging, though, is the recent unplanned rest that Torreira has been afforded. With an international break to close out March coinciding with a three-match Premier League ban, Torreira has played just 137 minutes of club football since the start of March. That is less than two matches in almost a month-and-a-half.

Prior to this inadvertent break, Torreira was beginning to look a little tired. He was only 22 years of age when he signed, he has never played in the Premier League football, and he is used to a winter break. It is easy to forget these things when he is playing well. Sometimes, expectations are a little high for players making their debut season in a new country, learning a new language, acclimating to a new culture, city, team, life.

Transferring to a new team is tiring. And it was starting to show in Torreira’s play. Perhaps, then, after a quiet month to rest and recuperate, with Torreira expected to return to the fold against Napoli on Thursday, we could again witness the relentless, energetic, vivacious midfielder of old.

Maybe a rest is exactly what Torreira needed. We will find out on Thursday. Let’s hope that is the case, but one thing is painfully clear: Arsenal need him at his best.