Arsenal youth must step up after Granit Xhaka’s injury

Maitland-Niles and Sambi Lokonga Have Been Given a Golden Opportunity

Both will have their chances over this three month stretch and I expect both to make the very best of them. Lokonga has shown throughout his short career that he can play with any level of competition, and Partey is a great partner to continue growing next to. Meanwhile, Maitland-Niles has taken a different path to get to the position he finds himself in currently; formerly thought of more as a defender, albeit one who could play across the backline, he protested and wished to play as a midfielder more and more often, finally being allowed to when he was loaned to West Brom.

That spell showed the footballing world that Maitland-Niles could play where he desired to, and this includes as a defensive or offensive midfielder. And while it is difficult to imagine him getting onto the pitch with Arsenal as a more centrally playing midfielder regularly, his pairing next to Partey could be the best thing to ever occur to him in his struggle to play as a midfield player. Xhaka’s injury is his gain.

Maitland-Niles isn’t the best defender, like either Partey or Lokonga, but his offensive abilities and passing threat are both really special. Paired with either his young comrade Lokonga or the older, more experienced Partey, he could really find his abilities in the best position on the pitch, where they can help to create fluidity from the back of the shape, all the way up to Martin Odegaard and the chosen attacking forwards.

Arsenal will, in other words, have to depend on young players once again to continue progressing in the Premier League. This should be expected at this point, as the team is full of young players who, when given the chances, continue to make the most of them. With the rough start to the year understood, the likes of Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe continue to develop, so much so that the brilliant Gabriel Martinelli, who will be necessary at some point this season, has yet to see much time on the pitch so far.

Kieren Tierney, Gabriel Magalhaes, Takehiro Tomiyasu, and Ben White are all young, relatively speaking, as well. These players all represent forces that will be with the club, should all work outright, for years and years to come. Arsenal is getting positive results with many young players just in the beginning of their Arsenal journeys, and so that should hearten everyone that even better days are still to come in the not-so-distant future.

All these players, like Lokonga and Maitland-Niles, will have to stay ready at all times, for the moments can creep up upon you when you are least expecting them. In the coming weeks without Xhaka available, continuity will have to be maintained next to Partey and these young men can hold it down and even improve upon the work of the Swiss international.

This is no time to cower, and instead the best possible time to grow. The Gunners need them, and both Sambi and Ainsley must answer the call with vigor, passion, imagination, and bravery for the coming weeks and months ahead. Wins and losses are on the line week in and out, and their proper performances could very well be the differences between no points, one point, and three.