Arsenal: 4 players who still have a big role to play this season

When Arsenal journeyed to the south coast to face Brighton in the last league outing before the international break there were no points awarded for predicting the starting lineup.

Mikel Arteta has reshaped his squad with numerous players making for the exit doors and fresh faces arriving in their stead. The manager now has his team.

Thus when the situation arises that the 11 players on the pitch are all-but set in stone and not subject to change, those on the peripheries and even the bench can be forgotten about.

But football is a squad game. It’s impossible to last an entire season without rotation, even if there is no European football for Arsenal to contend with and even if they get knocked out of the domestic competitions earlier than desired.

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4 players who still have a big role to play for Arsenal despite not being first team regulars under Mikel Arteta in the Premier League

It’s said how you finish matches is more important than how you start them. This is so often true. In-game changes can swing matches into your favour just as they can provide extra steel to see games out. You almost always need three substitutes.

Nevertheless, there are some figures at Arsenal that even after seven matches of the season are in some peoples’ minds being left behind: where are the minutes going to come from? Should they even be on the bench?

Across an entire league season there will be time for near enough everyone. Injuries strike, form dips and especially in the hectic periods, such as Christmas, it’s unhealthy and unwise not to share the minutes out across the team. Besides, you don’t have to play loads to make a deciding impact.

Everyone has a role to play, just like these four.

1. Nuno Tavares

For as long as Arsenal are involved in cup competitions, Nuno Tavares will be around to take up the left-back slot. Already featuring in both EFL Cup matches this season, he is still in with a chance of retaining his place over Kieran Tierney when Leeds head to the Emirates Stadium at the end of October.

Given the magnitude of the round of 16 game coupled with Arteta’s preference to field strong sides in the hunt for silverware, Tavares might miss out, although with two games either side in four-day intervals he will be feeling confident.

Beyond just the cup matches, the impending Christmas schedule could see him grab a couple of starts.

Tierney is not having the best start to the season either. It’s tough to admit for a player so adored and consistent, but he is struggling for form at the minute. While not being dropped per se, Arteta may feel taking him out of the firing line for a game or two could see him gain something resembling to rest to recuperate fitness. And, he’s hardly got the cleanest injury record.

Tavares being effective as a wing-back or even as a left-winger also opens up more possibilities when the likes of Nicolas Pepe and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang jet off to AFCON in January.

Continued…

2. Eddie Nketiah

The situation with Folarin Balogun hasn’t been dealt with in the best manner. Nobody is disputing at this stage that he should have left on loan.

With Eddie Nketiah staying his opportunities are even more limited, as witnessed when he was selected on the bench against AFC Wimbledon with the departing 23-year-old getting the nod in the starting lineup.

While he may have started on the opening day against Brentford, it’s fair to say that were Nketiah fit he would have been chosen to lead the line instead of his teammate.

And that doesn’t look like changing for future matches this season. In instances where Aubameyang is rested it will be Lacazette at centre-forward, with Nketiah’s relative comfort out wide and greater top-level experience seeing him favoured by Arteta.

Into the January period when the captain departs with Gabon, the starting role in the team is likely to be Lacazette with Nketiah selected over Balogun on the bench. That could be rubber stamped if Flo is sent out on loan during the winter, or pushed on further if Lacazette is surprisingly moved on.

It’s not to everyone’s taste, no matter how well Nketiah trains: Balogun is staying at Arsenal and Nketiah isn’t. At what point does talent get trusted? Regardless of one’s viewpoint, the former Chelsea youngster is still set for a role to play this season. Strikers who score goals wouldn’t go amiss.

Continued…

3. Cedric Soares

Takehiro Tomiyasu is the first choice right-back. Hardly much of a revelation. But you need two right-backs, even if Arsenal have four.

As the season has progressed it’s become clear that Calum Chambers is no longer second in running having been left out of Premier League matchday squads and been resigned to the bench for the most recent EFL Cup outing.

Cedric Soares has taken his place.

In the long season ahead, it seems strange to think that Cedric will be the direct replacement for Tomiyasu in league outings given the different profiles of the players. Considering Chambers can’t make the bench behind the aforementioned duo though, that looks like being the plan.

And in the case of Tomiyasu not featuring for whatever reason, there will surely be a change of approach: Thomas Partey or Sambi Lokonga may drop into the three-man build-up. In either case, Cedric will be featuring more than his English teammate whether or not he’s someone fans would like to see in the team.

Same as all the rest, with the hectic winter period coming in December and Tomiyasu going to need some time out of the lineup in his first English football venture, Cedric will get his chance. Any backup or number two for a position in any squad will have to be called upon at some stage and Cedric is set for plenty of involvement this term.

Continued…

4. Gabriel Martinelli

Will he get a chance, or is it more hopeful than anything? For a fanbase who adores the young Brazilian, hope might be the word.

We have to believe he will have a big part to play this season. At the moment he is barely getting a sniff despite being in peak physical condition. With just two league outings to start the season when injuries struck and 88 combined minutes in EFL Cup outings, it’s been slim pickings.

It won’t have helped him to see all four of the forwards ahead of him in the pecking order at Arsenal – Pepe, Aubameyang, Smith Rowe and Saka – all netting while on international duty, which in itself could prove to be a setback.

But the season is long. There are still 31 Premier League matches to play and, hopefully, a fair few more cup outings to come.

What is the next step for him? It has to be convincing Arteta that when something is needed in matches that it’s him who should be called upon. That substitution has to be him.

Martinelli’s eyes will be on whichever game comes up next, but looking ahead he has to see Aubameyang’s departure to AFCON as his big chance to earn serious minutes. While Lacazette is the obvious candidate, he has just over two months to convince the manager otherwise.

His ‘big role’ to play doesn’t have to imply he’ll gain tons of minutes. In an Arsenal side struggling for goals, every single forward in the squad will have their say. Even if he only makes the occasional cameo here and there he can still make an impact on this team. It’s a squad game after all.

The 20-year-old has to feel valued. And while everyone wants him to get more minutes, his contributions can be considerable even without ten or so starts to his name.