Arsenal: Matteo Guendouzi needs his fire back

For the first few months of the season under Unai Emery, Matteo Guendouzi was the only player competing with Bernd Leno for the title of potential player of the season. However, he has not seen much action under Freddie Ljungberg or Mikel Arteta, and when he has played, he’s looked a step or two off the pace. The flame-haired midfielder needs his fire back, and Arteta might just be the man to give it to him.

The word that most describes Guendouzi’s season so far has been dynamic. Through September and October, he would grab games by the scruff of the neck, taking over the midfield, and propelling Arsenal forward when nobody else was. He was never substituted, and Emery put his faith in Guendouzi repeatedly. And the Frenchman came up with the goods regularly.

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

But he’s tapered off recently, with players like Granit Xhaka and Lucas Torreira cementing starting spots under Arteta, and Mesut Özil finding a new horizon as the creative hub of Arsenal, a role Guendouzi had occupied after Ceballos’ hamstring injury. He has also recently been criticised by fans and journalists alike for diving, which is the hallmark of an Arsenal player out of form. The  20-year-old has lost his set spot, but has the perfect tools to win it back.

Nobody, with the notable exception of Lucas Torreira, has a bigger engine than Guendouzi. He can tear around the field like a whirling dervish for ninety minutes on any given day, and frustrates opponents both going forward and in defense. Arsenal under Arteta have quality, and are improving in their tactics, but need to learn stamina, and Guendouzi has that in spades. He is also the future of this team; with regular first-team experience at 20, he’s got a lot of room to grow and develop, while already having proven himself talented.

There are certainly things that Guendouzi needs to develop. His positional awareness islacking at times, with his youthful exuberance getting the better of him at times. And he also tends to see red; he’s been famed for his temper since he played in France. But if there is a man who can fix both of those issues, it is Mikel Arteta.

Arteta, who studied and coached under Pep Guardiola—one of the greatest coaches of all time—has instilled a new tactic to Arsenal. Like Pep, he appears to specialize in a composed style of football, which prioritizes positional discipline and smooth, collected play through the whole of the team, moving from defense to attack with fluidity and composure. He is, therefore, the perfect man to corral Guendouzi, and give him a spot moving forward.

Similar to his mentor, Arteta, per reports, prefers the 4-3-3 formation to the 4-2-3-1 he has employed at the start of his tenure, and with the defensive stability of Lucas Torreira behind him, Guendouzi’s unique combination of industry and quality on the ball would fit perfectly in that midfield three.

And if Granit Xhaka leaves in January, Guendouzi will likely have the run of the left side of the midfield while Torreira takes the right. He will find his place. He just needs his confidence back.