Watford vs Arsenal: Arteta’s big attacking selection call

A source of perennial discussion, Mikel Arteta takes his Arsenal side to Watford on Sunday for their afternoon kick-off in the Premier League with one major selection decision to make.

It’s been very clear from the offset who the most equipped players in the squad were to help Arsenal compete this season.

Starting the campaign with Pablo Mari and Calum Chambers in the team, it quickly became apparent that if Arsenal were to achieve any modicum of success they couldn’t rely on those players. Takehiro Tomiyasu came in and raised the bar, Gabriel too, while Nicolas Pepe made way for Emile Smith Rowe and Bukayo Saka to hold down the wide areas.

And having streamlined the senior squad down to 20 players, it reinforced the importance of the 14 or so players who would nail down their places for the remainder of the campaign. Only in one position is there any real debate over who should be starting: left forward.

Watford vs Arsenal: Arteta’s big attacking selection call is whether to play Emile Smith Rowe or Gabriel Martinelli out on the left wing

The battle, if perceived in such a way, between Gabriel Martinelli and Smith Rowe is where the welcome question marks lie. Both have had excellent spells in the team, with the former performing superbly across the winter period, while Smith Rowe started the Premier League season in electric form before turning into a super sub.

In terms of who to select in the team moving forward, Arteta can do little wrong. Both provide their own special qualities, just as both give Arsenal something in their attack that’s valuable to the collective.

With Watford next up on the agenda and the pair being fit and firing, once again the call is to be made over who should get the nod from the off.

What is perhaps a more important point, however, is how effective either can be off the bench. With limited options to choose from other than a seemingly resurgent Pepe, the contributions of Smith Rowe and Martinelli as a substitute, whoever isn’t in the starting lineup, will be crucial over the remaining 14 games.

How you start a match isn’t necessarily more important than how you finish it. As seen with the February fixtures, there will be plenty of tight scorelines in the climax of this Premier League season, with match winners and game changers off the bench playing as important of a role as those who start.

In the case of Sunday’s match, given who superb he was against Brentford in comparison to one of Martinelli’s less effective outing against Wolves, Smith Rowe has done nothing to suggest he shouldn’t warrant a place in the team.

But if he isn’t chosen to start Arsenal are at no great loss. That’s what is best of all.