3 positives to be gathered from the recent training videos

1. Youth reigns supreme

During the 2018-19 season, Unai Emery’s Arsenal were the youngest squad in the Prem. This season, we rank second in that category. We’ve seen what that youth can do, with Bukayo Saka’s flexibility, Gabriel Martinelli’s instinct and tenacity, and Eddie Nketiah’s eye for goal all coming to the fore this season. A third of the players in the squad are under 21, and that’s not including Emile Smith-Rowe, who is on loan at Huddersfield, and who is arguably the crown jewel of Hale End at the moment.

Youth is such a wonderful thing to have in a roster, but Arsenal’s youth players don’t just provide a good talking point. They’ve taken over the conversation. The training video proves that. Maitland-Niles, Guendouzi, and Reiss Nelson all looked in tip-top shape, and provided so many sparks of excitement and opportunity throughout the scrimmage.

And for what’s more, our youth talent seems to avoid many of the pitfalls we’ve seen from this team in the past few years. Under Wenger, the team looked languid and unconcerned, characterized by players like Mesut Ozil, who has experienced a resurgence under Arteta. Then, under Emery, mistakes and lack of initiative strangled promising counter attacks weekly, characterized by players like Mustafi and, to an extent, Granit Xhaka, both of whom have experienced resurgences under Mikel Arteta.

The exuberance, skill, and most importantly, fire of the young players at Arsenal has really characterized the genesis of the Mikel Arteta era at the club, but it’ll be up to them to carry it through. However, based off of the recent training peformances, it looks like that mentality is here to stay.