Arsenal: In case you forgot how good Lucas Torreira is…

Arsenal played to a conclusive 2-0 win over Napoli thanks largely to an energetic midfield performance from Lucas Torreira, who hopefully you hadn’t forgotten about.

I feel like I’m still ruing my “I don’t miss Lucas Torreira” statements from a couple weeks back, when I was too busy bragging about Arsenal‘s fantastic midfield to realize that Torreira was in the middle of a suspension.

Regardless, if ever there was a moment for him to come storming back into the limelight, this was it. With Matteo Guendouzi and Mohamed Elneny putting forth a paltry effort against Everton and Granit Xhaka still missing from action due to injury, there was no choice – it had to be Lucas Torreira right here and right now. No matter that he hadn’t played in about a month.

Torreira did exactly what we needed him to do in order to win that crucial battle in the midfield against he Neapolitans. He didn’t just charge around blindly like Guendouzi did against Everton, he had control to his wild enthusiasm and it shone in a big way.

When you put Torreira and Aaron Ramsey together, you know that though – you know the energy is going to be there. It’s the control that you want, and Torreira was so generous as to provide it.

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The biggest number is in the number of times Torreira forfeited possession – 1. And to make up for it, he was creating chances left and right, bypassing the Napoli midfield, popping shots (one of which turned into a goal) and otherwise dominating a midfield that desperately needed a presence exactly like the one he provided.

It’s safe to say that this was a breath of fresh air and a kindly reminder that Torreira is a massive force in this midfield, and whatever lapses in forms we saw were probably just a byproduct of him having a work-intensive summer with his World Cup escapades and having to play through the winter for the first time – hardly a good combination.

He left nothing on the pitch, and was greeted to warm applause when he came off late in the match for for just cause. He made a difference, and one that we desperately needed to see.

Now we just need to get him into the midfield with Granit Xhaka healthy and Aaron Ramsey firing and this midfield will never get run over again… at least until Ramsey leaves us for good.