Arteta drops Arsenal future hint with youthful Crystal Palace lineup

Looking at how Mikel Arteta lined up his Arsenal side against Crystal Palace, who featured on the night for once was less noteworthy than who didn’t partake. The usual pre-game social media meltdown was tempered by a side bursting with youth and lacking in the tried and tested.

Hopes of securing a remarkable Europa League berth were boosted with results favourably falling Arsenal’s way earlier on the night. Tottenham fell to a miserable, and equally hilarious, home defeat, with Everton’s victory not overly altering the state of play.

Arteta entrusted one of the youngest sides he’d fielded in the Premier League this season with mounting this unlikeliest of rescue missions. It came in dramatic style late on with another one of the exciting core, Gabriel Martinelli, netting the winner, albeit in the end too little too late with West Ham hammering the final nail in the European coffin.

It leaves but the UEFA Europa Conference League left to secure, a competition with the distinction of being more embarrassing than enamouring.

Mikel Arteta drops Arsenal future hint with youthful Crystal Palace lineup

A back four with an average age of 24 and the three behind Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang just 21, Arteta perhaps subconsciously to some but very consciously to himself, hinted to what he sees as the path to enlightenment. Another uninspiring performance followed despite the invigorating talent on show, with Arsenal mustering just six shots all evening, three of those on target, and three of those resulting in goals.

Failing to test Vicente Guaita since Pepe’s opener until Martinelli poked home, Arteta succeeded in testing his own resolve. The voice in the back of his head will have been screaming for Alexandre Lacazette, Willian or even Dani Ceballos to enter the fray; voices that he subdued with his vision for next season.

Martinelli’s intervention proved most valuable and Arteta’s claims post-match that he is ‘very close’ to starting regularly may well come to fruition next term.

Of the starting lineup, question marks over who may leave hang only over three and none of those are certainties: Calum Chambers and Mohamed Elneny both have a year left while Bernd Leno is entering the final 24 months of his contract.

Elsewhere a blueprint emerges. A fine example of what Arsenal have and have not used enough, dots of new blood across that team with greater strength in depth were clear. Upgrades at right centre-back, right-back and in central midfield were the obvious areas to boost, with a bench that had up to seven of the eight players who could be moved on.

And yet despite seeing a side most wanted to see played throughout the season, Arsenal still limped over the line. Saved by individual brilliance, steel and speed through the thirds was in short supply, areas that can be improved with new additions, more time on the training ground and Arteta easing up on his insistence for each move to be choreographed to perfection.

The bones of a strong side are there. Expanding upon that is the next stage and witnessing a reliance on the youthful core over those who’ve failed to sustain form all season long offers an indication that Arteta can in fact see the wood for the trees.