Arsenal: Matteo Guendouzi facing impromptu “dynamism” session

Arsenal’s midfield is ripe with options and opportunity, but heading into Watford, news has been breaking that it might have gotten a lot more interesting.

Unai Emery seemed to have found his ideal Arsenal midfield when he put Granit Xhaka, Lucas Torreira and Matteo Guendouzi together. The combination there is too perfect not to bank on and bank on it they did, to great effect.

With the arrival of Dani Ceballos and the rise of Joe Willock, things got more interesting. There were even more options and even more opportunity for so many talented young players to become something special.

Going into Watford, Emery was undoubtedly banking on those options, but with Granit Xhaka and Lucas Torreira both owning up to injuries, the midfield situation went from interesting in a good way to just… interesting.

Without Torreira and Xhaka, Emery’s hands will be tied. Willock, Ceballos and Guendouzi would be the way to go, with the potential to run with just two of them and start Mesut Ozil (yikes) in the No. 10 position.

More from Pain in the Arsenal

• 3 standout players from 1-0 victory over Everton
• 3 positives & negatives from Goodison Park victory
• Arsenal vs PSV preview: Prediction, team news & lineups
• 3 talking points from Arsenal’s victory at Goodison Park
• Mikel Arteta provides Gabriel Martinelli injury update after Everton win

Honestly, this couldn’t have come at a worse time, because Watford are one of those teams that will bully you if you don’t stand your ground in the midfield, and Arsenal’s two top ground-standers may be missing.

Which brings full circle what was recently said about Matteo Guendouzi and his need to be dynamic. Though Didier Deschamps obviously wasn’t saying it in relation to anything happening against Watford this weekend, it is already incredibly relevant because of the fact that this midfield could use a good helping of dynamism to withstand the Hornets and their usual brand of rough and tumble.

You don’t find that in Ceballos. It’s not his gig. And you won’t find it in Joe Willock, because it isn’t his gig either. Both of these guys are ball carriers with the propensity to win a challenge from time to time, but if everything goes the way it seems to be going, it will fall on Guendouzi to be the guy that Torreira and Xhaka were… combined.

Which… since we were talking about dynamism…

Consider it an opportunity for the young man. And again, we don’t know who will be healthy and who won’t be, but we know Guendouzi will be out there, and if Xhaka and Torreira can’t be, that makes him the senior member of this midfield, and therefore the guy we have to rely on.