Arsenal vs Villarreal: Emile Smith Rowe alongside Thomas Partey

There will be no Dani Ceballos against Villarreal on Thursday. It’s something that, based on his first leg display and many before that, might be one of the few reassuring aspects for Arsenal as they look to overturn their 2-1 Europa League first leg deficit.

A solution to this ‘problem’ could be rectified by shifting Granit Xhaka back into midfield. Simple in terms of personnel, simple in execution. Mikel Arteta doesn’t often deal in the obvious.

Moving Xhaka to that position wasn’t the standardised alternative in the first place, one he maneuvered around cleverly but has yet to let go of.

Another move would be to partner Thomas Partey with Mohamed Elneny. The Egyptian is the only other central midfield option, played well against Newcastle and is brimming with confidence. Again, simple.

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Arsenal vs Villarreal: Emile Smith Rowe as an improved Dani Ceballos alongside Thomas Partey in midfield for Europa League semi-final

But all of that works on the basis that this is a flat 4-2-3-1 system, which it isn’t. More closely resembling Johan Cruyff’s 3-4-3 diamond or a 3-3-4, it tasks the midfielder alongside Partey with drifting into a left wing-back slot to accommodate Xhaka’s sluggishness and grant the Swiss time on the ball to progress possession.

It also bestows the role of the midfielder with acting as a wandering No. 8, picking up slots in the left half-space as well as shoring up central areas when out of possession. It’s a hefty workload, one that relies on an understanding of space and threat at all times.

Ceballos has no spatial awareness. He can’t sense incoming danger, nor can he act upon it. What he does offer, however, is better discipline when the ball is in front of him and there isn’t much space between Arsenal’s lines: only Partey (fbref) has registered more tackles and interceptions than him in all competitions per 90 minutes, with the pair occupying the same positions when it comes to ball recoveries.

Elneny coming into that slot would constitute an entirely differing attacking approach, since he can’t cover ground in wide areas and isn’t technically secure enough to be building triangles in any space, let alone half-spaces. It wouldn’t work, ever.

Should Arteta revert to 4-2-3-1, then this issue wouldn’t arise: Xhaka would move alongside Partey with either Saka or Cedric at left-back. Problem solved, in theory. However, little suggests that will occur based on Arteta’s decisions, so someone else needs to fulfill that role.

Who? Emile Smith Rowe.