Arsenal: 3 key player partnerships in Arteta’s lineup

Football can be viewed in a number of different ways. What is most important to some may feel like a minor aspect to others. Then you have Arsenal who are currently being perceived through nothing other than negativity – and that needs to change.

Does one see how teams attack or defend? How they are with the ball or how they are without it? How individuals prosper or how the collective functions? Whichever lense takes priority from the individual’s viewpoint, team performance is reliant on a key trait: partnerships.

Some players never pass to one another. Some barely see face-to-face. Yet all of the best sides in history boast partnerships across the pitch and Arsenal need to start forging their own if they are to be successful once again.

Signing six new players in the summer window including a goalkeeper, right-back, centre-back, left-back, central midfielder and playmaker, Arteta has to act fast to integrate his acquisitions in a way that brings on-field joy.

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3 key player partnerships in Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal lineup as he bids to forge a team capable of averting the current slide down the Premier League table

There are numerous factors that Arteta will have to rely on in order to sculpt a winning side just as there are decisions of his own making that will doubtlessly impact whether or not he lasts the season as manager.

But having bought new players it isn’t a simple matter of talent plus talent equals success. Those he’s signed to play certain positions have to complement those they’re in close tandem with and across the Arsenal team there are three of these player link ups that need forging and solidifying rapidly.

It’s down to Arteta to find systems and methods to allow partnerships and on-field relationships to flourish, just as it’s on the players to bond, communicate and learn each other’s games.

Across the entire pitch there are connections to strengthen but in three areas of the starting lineup there are three key player bonds to forge.

1. Ben White & Gabriel

Last season Arsenal effectively played with two different central defensive partnerships: Gabriel and David Luiz or Rob Holding and Pablo Mari.

They were not successfully interchangeable and the inconsistency of selection was even highlighted by Mari who called for more stability in that regard. Arteta became synonymous with chopping and changing his sides from week to week. Anyone would have thought he used to work with Pep Guardiola.

That now needs to stop. Spending a combined £77m on Ben White and Gabriel, this should be Arsenal’s starting pairing for every Premier League fixture they’re available for.

How the dynamic will work will be interesting to see play out. Naturally, having two more athletic centre-backs who can cover grass quicker than their other teammates allows Arsenal to squeeze the pitch and play with a higher line.

White is expected to be the more progressive ball carrier of the two with his trademark ventures out from defence, while Gabriel blends his progression in both ways. With one more aerially secure than the other there needs to be communication on set pieces in both boxes, which Arsenal are currently struggling at, and as front-footed defenders they need to strike a balance in pressing and dropping off.

Together they have the tools to flourish but given their lack of experience playing with one another it will take time to develop.

2. Albert Sambi Lokonga & Thomas Partey

Where is Granit Xhaka? Well he’s busy watching on from the stands for three matches and, in the hopes of many, no to return again for some time.

All of which depends on whether Albert Sambi Lokonga and Thomas Partey can strike up a partnership in the middle of the park that negates the need for Xhaka’s presence. That is, of course, so long as Mohamed Elneny doesn’t creep back into the team.

On the basis that he won’t during the Swiss’ three-game ban, there is a lot of hope pinned on the idea that this Belgian and Ghanaian duo can bring the fresh midfield variety that Xhaka’s previously expected departure would have present.

Fans are looking at the dynamism and enhanced mobility of these two as the lift the team needs. Everyone is aware of the structural solidity that Partey brings with dashes of technical flair, and many of the positive traits of the 28-year-old are visible in Sambi.

Far from polished, Partey’s excellent defensive scanning and natural reading of danger can be the key tool that both aids Sambi’s learning of the English game as well as unlocks his more exciting box-to-box qualities.

What Partey and Sambi both share is superb press resistance. This coupled with their physical and mental attributes and passing ranges will raise the tempo of Arsenal’s progression and encourage the defenders to find their feet without concerns over them needing 12 minutes to turn and pick a pass.

In theory it can work brilliantly. Sambi still has a long way to go in his development (he is still only 21 years old) especially in regards to his defensive positioning, while Partey is only just returning from injury, but if these two can dovetail in the centre of the park it’s a midfield duo that can elevate Arsenal.

3. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang & Martin Odegaard

Can you call this a partnership considering they both play in different positions with entirely opposing job roles? Not really, so it’s kind of cheating.

What it is though, is a link up that can have a transformative impact on the club captain and propel Arsenal back up the Premier League table.

It may not be the direct combination play between the two either. Odegaard doesn’t need to directly feed Aubameyang through on goal and grab an assist for this to be deemed a success. Where the beauty can lie is in the positions; what areas of the pitch the Norwegian picks up that have knock-on effects for the rest of the forwards.

His penchant for the right-half space as well as central areas are pockets of space previously unoccupied, or assumed by the wrong players, that prevent Aubameyang being as crowded out as teams are easily able to get into shape.

Since the start of last season, Aubameyang has scored ten goals in 14 matches he’s started with Odegaard. Without Odegaard, he’s netted just goals in 21 outings.

Someone who thrives on quality service in behind, Arsenal have not had enough players who can thread those passes. Be them directly to Aubameyang or to a teammate en route to the captain, Odegaard offers that.

How these two combine will be key to turning the season around. The very small sample size that we’ll label as history suggests it’s a partnership that can prosper.