Arsenal: 5 key players vs Norwich City in a new new era

Arsenal will have their first match with Freddie Ljungberg in charge against Norwich City. Here are the five key players to see him us to victory.

Arsenal finally made the move and canned Unai Emery after weeks of what felt like abject failure. The players looked done with him, the fans looked done with him. It was all a bunch of people being done with people and that’s never a way to get the results that you need.

So now it’s Freddie Ljungberg‘s turn to try to get those results, and to try to be better liked by a toxic fan base and players that are showing a tendency to be really, really hard to motivate.

Without any managerial record to pick from, it’s yet unknown who Ljungberg will turn to to build his foundation, whether he will continue on with Unai Emery’s desperation XI that involved all of the overpaid superstars that couldn’t be bothered to play for the Spaniard, or whether he will revert to Emery’s preferred XI of mixing all those that are performing well, youth and veterans alike.

Honestly, I just want to see what he does with Sokratis. Of course, that becomes more difficult when we’re dealing with injuries to David Luiz and Rob Holding. Regardless, let’s tune into the five key players. We start with No. 5.

5. Nicolas Pepe

Despite not knowing who Ljungberg will turn to, it’s likely he will turn to Pepe simply because few players will be as eager to prove themselves as the new winger.

Pepe struggled under Unai Emery, which no one is at fault for, he just had trouble acclimating, and a fresh start with a new manager, who also happened to be a winger when he played, is going to be an excellent opportunity to right the ship that Pepe was struggling to stay aboard.

We’ve seen pieces of what Pepe can do throughout his struggles, and putting those pieces together may be as simple as a “fresh start” with a new man in charge. Changes of scenery work wonders on struggling players, even if the scenery is just the supporting cast.

Moving on to No. 4.