Arsenal: Smith Rowe cameos should change perceptions of the bench

It is a good complaint to have! Despite facing many potential distractions off the pitch, including fixture uncertainty and the captain’s demotion, the Arsenal youngsters have continued to defy their youthful inexperience over the Christmas period and their eye-catching performances are providing Mikel Arteta with the ultimate selection headache.

In a testament to our wealth of attacking options, top scorer Emile Smith Rowe has failed to start any of the last three Premier League matches but has still scored on each occasion to make it increasingly difficult to omit him. And with the winning machine rolling on even with his limited minutes, the evident strength in depth up front offers a glimpse of what we can expect to see on future Gunners’ benches.

The rich attacking reserves we have at present likely serve as a precursor to what our Guardiola-inspired manager is hoping to establish in north London, and they will perhaps alter perceptions about what it means to be on bench while highlighting how good quality back-up can be a positive perhaps even essential – factor in creating a competitive side.

Although it took time and an eye-watering amount of money to achieve, the mix of a star-studded cast and meticulous coaching enables Man City to always employ their preferred system without enforced reversion to plan B.

Arsenal vs Man City: Abundance of forward options and the influence of Pep Guardiola calls for change of perception in the substitutes bench

Meanwhile, the infamous Pep roulette demonstrates the champions’ ability to frequently rotate the team and yet avoid diminishing their collective quality, with only three outfield players making more than 30 league appearances for the Citizens in last season’s title-winning campaign.

Furthermore, the Catalan’s much-derided false-nine strategy epitomises the benefits of having such versatile and stylistically-similar players. Constant movement between the lines and an embarrassment of technical expertise makes them almost irrepressible when on song, and gives the boss freedom to enact small but decisive adjustments when required during the game.

A similar pattern has emerged for Arsenal in recent weeks as, while it is often considered a choice between Smith Rowe and Odegaard in pre-match discussions, the England international has also been substituted for other teammates recently, coming on for Saka at Elland Road and replacing Martinelli for the closing minutes of an emphatic Boxing Day victory at Carrow Road.

As is the case in Manchester, the interchange and adeptness of our young stars to operate anywhere across the front line affords Arteta both greater managerial flexibility to bolster our offensive threat and the opportunity to give the forwards some rest ahead of upcoming matches without weakening the team, something we often suspect happens when substitutions are made.

While deciding who to leave out is certainly not the most envious of tasks, Arteta has so far managed the situation extremely well and each young gun is still earning enough game-time to showcase their undoubted promise, evidenced by their involvement in over 84% of our league goals this campaign.

Of course, it is unfortunate that Smith Rowe is currently the odd one out, but being on the bench does not necessarily equate to being unfavoured and such tough decisions are the exact sort of problems the club is hoping to create as part of the rebuilding project, with attention soon turning to creating similar dilemmas throughout the team.

Happy New Year everyone!