Arsenal: 3 things Mikel Arteta must consider in this winter break

2. Play a ball carrying midfielder in the centre

I like Matteo Guendouzi and I like the fact he puts himself about and seems to have that fight and leadership that our midfield has missed over the years. However, in an attacking sense I can probably count on both hands the amount of chances he has created for our attackers.

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He seems to favour playing the safe ball or passing back towards his own goal and frustratingly he seems to slow our attack down. He doesn’t play well with Granit Xhaka, who prefers to sit in the middle and pick out players with long-range passing and we are left with having to rely on Guendouzi being the link between midfield and attack, something he is not currently thriving at.

We have players at the club who can fulfill this role in Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Dani Ceballos, but you can predict the exact midfield that’s going to play a game before the line-up has even been announced. It’s Lucas Torreira, Granit Xhaka and Guendouzi all being rotated amongst themselves and all three are not attack-minded players.

It was generally always the same three under Unai Emery and the trend has continued under Mikel Arteta. So is it a lack of trust in other midfielders or are the managers too afraid to try something new? It would make sense to have an attack-minded midfielder in that role who can assist and score and provide that much-needed link that we desperately need, something that Aaron Ramsey did so well and who still hasn’t been replaced properly. How many goals has our midfield assisted or scored in the last 18 months?