Arsenal prepare to face £25m transfer triumph

Is it out of the system yet? No 4-0 loss at any stage to any opponent is easy to stomach but in this particular case very little is gained from microanalysing the 4-0 defeat Arsenal suffered against Liverpool.

It’s now full steam ahead to Saturday when Newcastle travel to the Emirates Stadium on lunchtime looking to secure their first win of the season.

Despite being overwhelming favourites to return to winning ways, the visit of the Magpies remains a huge game in this season as Mikel Arteta’s side have to show their resilience to bounce back from that humbling loss. A big game becomes a huge game.

But there is an interesting subplot in among the teams’ respective aims: Joe Willock.

Arsenal prepare to face £25m transfer triumph Joe Willock as Newcastle travel to the Emirates Stadium in the Premier League on Saturday

Saturday will mark the first time that the midfielder will have ever played against his childhood club, not least of all at the Emirates Stadium.

But a few months ago there were genuine groans of discontent that Arsenal would even consider selling him for £25m. On the one hand, it would have been pleasant to see that figure go down as a colossal failing on Arsenal’s part, as that would have entailed that Willock had been absolutely smashing it up on Tyneside with goals and assists aplenty.

Sadly for him, and Newcastle, he hasn’t registered one of either this season, this despite the Magpies having scored more Premier League goals than Arsenal. With each week that passes, the £25m looks like an even greater coup than it already was back when the seven consecutive top-flight goals were still all that anyone could think of.

It was a magnificent deal at the time to accrue £25m for an academy midfielder when there was only one club interested. And it remains a triumph of a transfer, even if that means Willock is struggling.

Part of a bang average Newcastle squad bursting at the seams with Championship players, he’s struggled to come even close to replicating what was entirely unsustainable last season, registering 0.08 xG/90 compared to 0.44/90 during his spell there in 2020/21.

Under a more attack-minded coach in Eddie Howe, the hope is that he sees Willock’s superb running ability and late penalty box arrivals as a tool he can use in more expressive ways. While there was never any way he could sustain his numbers from the end of last season, Willock was averaging nearly double the amount of shots in his first spell (1.73 p/90) than he is now.

With such a weak squad he can’t add to until the winter, Howe has to squeeze the best out of what he as and Willock is one of the players in his team that if used properly can help push his side up the table.

Without the chance to show it this term, he remains an exciting midfielder who has dangerous weapons in his arsenal.

It will be a strange sight to behold on the weekend: Willock at the Emirates in a colour other than red. This is someone all of an Arsenal affiliation grew very fond of. He’s a Hale End lad and the love and passion he had for the club shone through in every single one of his performances.

Hopefully, in this new-look Newcastle, he can begin rediscovering his goalscoring touch and make that £25m fee look like pittance. That obviously can wait until the following match against Norwich, however.