Arsenal vs Valencia: Who is going to provide the brainpower?

There is one thing I am looking for as Arsenal host Valencia, and it’s been a question all year. But with the troops dwindling, the options are lessening.

I keep saying this, but at the start of the year, I don’t think there was any doubt what was the most exciting part of this Arsenal football club. Everyone would have been split between either the strikers, or the creative midfielders.

The strikers speak for themselves, but it was the options in the creative midfield that was truly special. I mean, Mesut Ozil, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Aaron Ramsey all carry tremendous international reputations and Alex Iwobi is an up-and-comer. There was no doubt that creating chances would never be a problem.

And yet, apart from the defense, it has been the biggest problem. No one on the team is creating more than 2.0 chances on average per match. That is embarrassing. And only one guy on the team is creating over 1.3 chances per match. As a team, they are the only top six club not managing over 10 chances per match and they currently sit behind already-relegated Fulham.

There have been matches where Ozil, Mkhitaryan and Iwobi have all started together and they’ve provided all of nothing for their strikers.

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It was so bad for awhile that it fell to the wingbacks to do the creating, as Sead Kolasinac jumped out to lead the team in chances created. Now that he has fallen off, who do we turn to? Who can step up and give our dynamite striking pair something to work with?

That’s the primary question that needs addressing against Valencia. We know now, this late in the season, that we don’t have a reliable chance creator. And with Ramsey out for the year and Denis Suarez more of the same, there’s nowhere to turn except for those three familiar names – Ozil, Mkhitaryan, Iwobi.

By my estimation, it will probably be Ozil that gets the nod in the No. 10 role, but I have to imagine that if it’s not going well, that he will be one of the first to get the hook. And then who?

The troublesome thing is that I trust none of the three options, and I feel incredibly justified in not trusting them. Which makes this summer so important.

But before the summer, we have to win the Europa League. And before we win the Europa League, we have to beat Valencia. And before we beat Valencia, someone has to create some damn chances.