How do Arsenal replace Tierney & Partey?

Arsenal came into the Crystal Palace match at the start of last week in good spirits and with high hopes moving forward. Following that terrible loss, the team was struck by two further blows: Kieren Tierney would be out for months and months ahead, and Thomas Partey would miss several weeks as well. These two blows were devastating and against Brighton just the other day, it was apparent to anyone watching that this will take some time to adjust to.

In the loss to Graham Potter’s lot, Arsenal did not look sharp or aggressive or even sure of themselves. While the disallowed goal to Gabriel Martinelli was a bit harsh in my mind – considering there were no definitive angles regarding the matter – the team still did not play well enough to win the match. While the Gunners are lucky to have lackluster teams like Manchester United and West Ham United behind them, Tottenham is gaining form by the week and while they won’t win out, they do have an easier schedule than Arsenal does the rest of the way.

But Arsenal are just three points behind Tottenham with a game in hand over them even with the slip-ups of this past week. Hence, beating both Chelsea and Tottenham will be crucial for the hopes of Champions League football next season for Mikel Arteta’s outfit. They will have to carry lots of that weight without at least one of their star players, and likely two for some time at the very least.

How will this team replace Thomas Partey and Kieran Tierney?

How do Arsenal go about replacing Kieran Tierney and Thomas Partey for the rest of the Premier League season?

Nuno Tavares proved early in the Crystal Palace match that he would not necessarily be the man to replace Tierney at the left-back position, and he was promptly swapped at half-time for Granit Xhaka who does not generally play in that position.

I have suggested that, with the positive form that Cedric Soares, that when Takehiro Tomiyasu is healthy he might be the best option for that replacement. He’s two-footed and defensively-minded. He has the tools to be a success there. Should that happen, I then believe that Xhaka can return to the middle of the pitch where he should be to partner with young Albert Sambi Lokonga.

Sambi will be just fine and has a real long-term with the club. He is a hungry and talented player who simply needs more time to grow and come into his own ability and form. Partnered with either Partey or Xhaka, the player would naturally grow but put in place of an injured Partey, Sambi must grow faster than he is and he needs someone experienced to help on the pitch. Xhaka is a strong candidate for that role I believe.

That would protect the backline more and also give the more offensively minded players better, more fluid service from back to front too. Solidity and balance would return to the side.

Some consistency there I believe would contribute to a re-establishment of consistency on the offensive side of the pitch as well. With the change that has come across this team over the last two matches, this team needs to find a calming, effective lineup to spur those names like Martin Odegaard, Gabriel Martinelli, Bukayo Saka and Alexandre Lacazette.

Southampton will be the next test for this team, and if they played against that outfit as they have in the past two matches they will have lost a third straight match, and will be in a clear, freefalling state. But this team is resilient as I wrote most recently.

This team is young and wants to fight for this massive ambition of the highest tier of European football for next season; while things look hard now, other sides will not win all of the matches they are supposed to in the same way that Arsenal hasn’t.

There is no question that the last two matches have been difficult to bear, especially after it seemed that the team had worked itself into a real groove and lather, so to speak. But this hardship is the best chance for this team to really grow and develop further and more profoundly over the closing months of this season.

If the team can bounce back, win some tough matches and take three points in many of them, then the Premier League top four is not out of reach at all, no matter how more difficult it may now seem to reach.