Why the midfield battle is key to success against Manchester United

Cast your minds back a few months to mid-July. Back then, Arsenal had a midfield of Thomas Partey, Granit Xhaka, and Martin Odegaard. Manchester United, meanwhile, boasted Fred, Scott McTominay, and Bruno Fernandes in the middle of the park.

I know which of those two midfield options I’d want to play with.

Fast forward to tomorrow’s game against the Red Devils, however, and it’s a very different-looking picture. United strengthened their midfield with the signings of Casemiro and Christian Eriksen, while Arsenal failed to bolster their ranks and now have injuries to Thomas Partey, Mohammed Elneny, Martin Odegaard, and the versatile Oleksandr Zinchenko to contend with.

While the debate will rage on as to whom Arsenal should have signed in the transfer window and what it may cost us this season, the proof will come tomorrow at Old Trafford. Arsenal will be without Partey for potentially a few weeks, Elneny is out for months and both Odegaard and Zinchenko are still in doubt.

This leaves Arsenal’s starting midfield looking very different and gives Mikel Arteta quite a headache. There is potential for the midfield starting trio to be Xhaka, Sambi Lokonga, and Fabio Vieira. Talk about being put into the deep end for Vieira if this is the choice Arteta makes.

Why the midfield battle is key to success against Manchester United

With United making slow but steady progress in grinding out results, the midfield battle of Casemiro, Fernandes, and Eriksen against a much younger and inexperienced trio will be where the game is won and lost. Whatever decision Arteta makes, he cannot make up for the experience he is losing through injuries.

Of course, there are multiple options. However, none of those options are quite as straightforward as they require players to play outside of their preferred position.

There is the option of putting Takehiro Tomiyasu back into the right-back slot and pushing Ben White into the number six role. This would leave Xhaka and Sambi as the advanced eights in midfield, but both lack the creativity that Odegaard provides.

Another option could be to use Emile Smith-Rowe in the left-sided eight position and drop Xhaka back to the number six role. However, this has been tried before and it doesn’t appear to be something Arteta is very comfortable testing again.

Finally, Arteta could switch tactics and go to a three at the back. This could look something like White, Saliba, and Gabriel as the three centre-backs, with Kieran Tierney and Tomiyasu as the wing-backs and Xhaka and Sambi in the midfield pivot. Arteta successfully utilised a 3-4-3 during the club’s FA Cup run in 2020.

However, this ploy could isolate the three forwards as it lacks creativity and could lead to the hopeful crosses from Tierney coming to nothing that we saw in parts last season.

Whatever decision Arteta opts for, the losses of Odegaard and Partey will be keenly felt. If there were ever a time for the youngsters to step up and prove that they can play on the biggest stage, Sunday afternoon is it.