Brentford - on the bus. Only via self-destruction

Arsenal takes a boring win against Brentford and keeps distance at the top.

The massive question before the match was about how much Arteta would rotate the side. The two-game-per-week schedule, which started with the North London Derby and will continue until the start of January, requires rotation; otherwise, the players will surely be run into the ground. Arteta’s answer was: Saka, Eze, and Timber were benched, with Madueke, Odegaard, and White taking their places. It was almost exactly what everyone hoped for, except for one name—Norgaard.

The situation with Norgaard is quite peculiar. Bringing in a player with Premier League experience, who clocked 2830 minutes last season in 34 PL appearances, only to use him for 14 minutes so far? That does not sound very sensible. More than that, completely omitting him against his former club could have hurt him personally, as it opened up the door for the banter narrative: “Did you leave our club just to polish the bench?”. But let’s hold that thought for a moment.

Ben White really hit the ground running from the very first minute—he was running up and down his flank, linking up with Madueke, occasionally being the closest to the Brentford goalkeeper, and topping his performance with a very nice assist right onto Merino’s head. The unspoken question after the celebration was: “Why was this White’s first Premier League participation since the match against Man United on the opening week?” Surely, the home fixture against West Ham, for example, could have been a great chance to see more of him in action.

Merino, in the meantime, has continued his effective run, scoring yet another header. And what a crucial one it was! Thanks to this early advantage, the team had the actual opportunity to settle down and ease up the pressure until the 60th minute, which is when Brentford brought on some fresh attacking substitutes. That goal plus and an unbelievable save from Raya to deny the header after Calafiori failed to track his marker during a Brentford corner, which simply shows a world-class keeper who is ready to perform at the peak of his ability in the first dangerous moment from the opponents, even if it only comes midway through the first half.

Mikel Merino is not the toughest defender to handle when he’s charging at you with the ball due to his lack of blistering speed. But when it comes to headers, Merino can truly be a handful. Now, after one and a half seasons, we can clearly see that we were lucky to get him into the squad. Who would have thought that three of our number nines (who cost a combined fee of nearly 200 million and earn half a million a week in wages) would all be watching matches from the stands for a whole month, while a converted midfielder is the one delivering the actual goals and assists?

Arsenal current centre forwards top the signings table - Transfermarkt

Deep Dive into Madueke

I must say, I wasn’t exactly stoked about the Madueke signing for two reasons (setting aside the feeling that we should’ve spent the money elsewhere - a point somewhat addressed by the Eze signing): Chelsea’s history of letting players go easily, and his utterly unstable goal and assist output highlighted by my own FPL experience. I can clearly recall that, despite being a fairly regular starter, he’d bag a hat-trick in one match and then absolutely vanish for the next couple of weeks. But at the time, I simply couldn’t grasp the underlying reasons for this inconsistency.

When Madueke finally started pulling on the Arsenal shirt, you could immediately spot his exceptional ability to practically dance past defenders—a skill unmatched in our current squad, even by Saka. He did initially go through a bit of a dry spell before his injury, but the glimpses of promise were certainly there. The injury rudely interrupted his momentum, but as soon as he was back, he slotted one against Bayer and I was certain it was only a matter of time before he really started racking up the numbers. In fact, I was so convinced, I even drafted him into my FPL side specifically for this week.

His dazzling footwork against Brentford was again brilliant. He effortlessly managed to slide past his marker multiple times, but what came next? Three failed corner attempts, a pair of rather poor crosses, and one truly dreadful clearance from the box. The only assist that actually counted came courtesy of Ben White, following Madueke’s little bit of foot magic. There was another moment where, right on the edge of the area, the Brentford defence struggled to clear. Mosquera intercepted, the ball trickled towards Madueke, and… he waited just a split-second too long before it was booted away. And then, it finally hit me!

Madueke isn’t really focused on delivering the final product for the team. He clearly gets his satisfaction from the dribbling itself—the one thing he truly does best, certainly in the team, perhaps in the entire league—and it eats up the majority of his concentration. Mentally, he seems to believe that once he’s waltzed past the defender, his duty is done. There’s no laser-sharp focus left for delivering the perfect cross or finding a teammate in a prime scoring position. Noni isn’t going till the end in everything he does (which that clear chance perfectly highlighted), and that’s where we see the absolute stark contrast with Saka. Bukayo is constantly focused on scoring, with the dribbling merely being a means to that end. For Noni, the successful dribble appears to be the achievement in itself. This fully explains his baffling statistics at Chelsea. He only scored in the games where he was absolutely flying, and the goals just automatically came his way. I honestly don’t know if Arteta can fix this, but in certain situations, I’d much prefer to see Nwaneri bombing down that wing, as he seems far more aligned with Saka’s mentality in that regard.

Dropping like flies

Well, this time around, our new pairing at centre-half looked quite comfortable. Second match together, the old home ground, facing a mid-table side – all these things gave them a proper boost of confidence. Mosquera was back to bullying the opposition, giving them a good physical hiding, until... he picked up an injury after a clumsy landing. The cameras swivelled to the last man standing able to deputize in central defence – poor old Timber just can’t catch a break, can he? Jurriën slotted into the RCB spot and kept things totally chill right up to the 90th minute. Honestly, I still can’t fathom how we snagged him for a mere forty-five million quid from Ajax. If Declan Rice is Arteta’s best bit of business, then Timber comes close as the second best – and all signed in one glorious summer window!

Rice, who was once again partnered with Zubimendi holding the fort in midfield, was putting in another masterful shift in the first half. But, come the second half, the old fatigue monster started to creep in. Around the 67th minute, during one of our surges forward, he lost the ball, and that was his reaction:

Anyone who looks at that picture and thinks Declan doesn’t need a breather must be taking the propaganda pills. It’s no great shocker that Rice later got a slight niggle and had to go off. The fact he’s already reported it as a minor muscle strain just tells you the root cause. It’s the body giving a polite warning to take it easy, before it decides to pack up entirely.

Merino also seemed a long way from freshness. First off, he was desperately asking for a penalty after a rebound, which, naturally, he didn’t get. Five minutes later, he couldn’t keep his feet to tuck away a second rebound for a goal. That, my friends, is another dead giveaway that the body isn’t quite following orders anymore.

It’s truly surprising to witness not only the gaffer sticking to this approach, but also the supporters just accepting it. Bukayo Saka and Kai Havertz were two of the most available players in our squad before they suddenly weren’t in the middle of last season. Not only did their injuries weaken the side, but neither of them have truly returned to their previous form. Saka is worlds away from his brilliant autumn-2024 form, Ben White is still short of the sharp fitness he had before his operation, and we’re still not aware how Havertz will bounce back. Driving players past their limit is a quick fix that leads to a long-term problem. That sort of thinking might be alright for a massive cup final or semi-final, but it’s destructive for a nine-month run of thirty-eight league matches, where consistency is the key.

Zubimendi, conversely, was rather quiet in the match. Yes, he filled the gaps nicely and played his part in the build-up play, but he was miles off taking charge and pushing the team up the park. Given Arteta’s relentless demands, perhaps that self-preservation instinct is a rather smart habit to possess. Saka is also known to ease off the gas when he knows he needs to conserve energy because a proper break won’t be forthcoming.

Second act

Keith Andrews went and made a triple sub on the hour mark. He must have been smelling an opportunity to nick something from this match. Arteta, to his credit, instantly manned up and hauled off the invisible Martinelli and the ‘dribbler’ Madueke for Eze and Saka. A sensible, logical move to cement the result before any calamity could strike, or so we thought.

The trouble was that, just like the Chelsea game before it, the replacements looked rather... dull. Yes, there was a brief uptick in activity for a couple of minutes, but honestly? Saka was simply bad by his own standards, and Eze looked a world away from his performance against Spurs. The whole second half, frankly, felt like trying to extract your hand from a glue puddle you child left making a piece of art. A right mess of sloppy passes from both teams, lost fifty-fifties, and shots that wouldn’t trouble a Sunday league keeper.

Most of our lads played as if they were already into extra time after a brutal Champions League semi-final stalemate. The only way I can explain it is that the general management of the players’ fitness in training is off when we’re playing every three days. The load they’re taking is fine for a game a week, but they just can’t cope with two games *plus* the training sessions. I watched Fulham play City on Tuesday, and City didn’t look knackered at all. They’ve got their own problems, mostly at the back, but they looked miles fresher and much lighter on their feet.

We still had two more subs left in the locker, but Arteta didn’t touch them until Rice picked up a knock in the 84th minute. Gyokeres finally trotted on—a change that could, and should, have been made earlier. My best guess is that, seeing our attacking efforts lacked cohesion, Arteta decided to stick with the players who were better at keeping the ball at their feet. The theory being: the more we control it, the fewer chances Brentford get to level things. That’s why Merino stayed on over Gyokeres, and why Odegaard saw out the game instead of Nwaneri, who is another player who simply can’t get a look-in.

Then, in the 91st minute, Merino slid a brilliant through-ball to Saka. Bukayo turned two defenders inside out, completely ignored a wide-open Gyokeres, and hammered a powerful shot that got a lucky deflection into the net before Kelleher could clear the danger. I’ll say it straight: I would much rather Saka had laid it off for Gyokeres there. I don’t care about Gyokeres’ goal count; a pass in that spot gives us a higher likelihood of scoring and is the correct choice for team spirit. Saka’s issue is that he wants to proclaim himself as ‘The Man’ at this club, but he isn’t playing like ‘The Man’ right now, certainly not in the last two games, yet he still chases the personal glory. I get that he’s got a decent shot, but the team getting the three points must be his first thought—especially as Arsenal haven’t lifted any major silverware—and only then should he worry about personal achievements. He won’t get any serious recognition as a player if Arsenal are empty-handed, so the priorities should be clearly defined, shouldn’t they?

Midweek Conclusions

The three points are in the bag, so now we can be making some conclusions. The biggest questions are why haven’t Norgaard and Nwaneri been playing today? And why has White seen so few minutes?

I can understand that with two of our centre backs out, Arteta wanted to have a familiar midfield that can help them adapt faster and this played a role in his decisions. At the same time, I refuse to believe that the player who captained Brentford side to get a 1-1 draw at the Emirates in April, would not manage playing 30 minutes against his former club. And if the issue is personal, shouldn’t personal not get in the way when the PL title is at the stake?

My own theory is that the drop of the level between the first-choice players and the second-choice ones, in the eyes of Arteta, is so enormous that he simply cannot countenance it. Timber has been clearly head and shoulders above White in terms of defending, Zubimendi is a much better distributor of the ball than Norgaard, and Odegaard is simply keeping possession much better than Nwaneri. Arteta does not trust them to perform his exact instructions, so they only get a run-out against teams who are clearly below par, or when the match result is already safe and sound.

There will always be a dip in performance, yes, but it may be time to sacrifice a little bit of quality now for the long-term well-being of the whole squad, especially when we are fighting for the Premier League crown. Last season, we suffered this very pain when we lost our best player for half a season, and our main three attacking players for six weeks—that sort of crisis can ruin the whole campaign, making all those points gathered up until now completely useless.

There is also the plain fact that giving the lads on the bench proper playing time will only elevate their level closer to the starters in future, right?

Emery Time

The almighty Chelsea lost to Leeds and are now a huge nine points adrift. Man City kept the pace, but they somehow threw away a 2-0 lead against Leeds at home and nearly managed to lose a 5-1 lead against Fulham. History tells us that these kinds of shaky results simply cannot last, and they will surely drop more points before they manage to get their game sorted. I’d even go this far and say they will lose points at least twice in their next five PL fixtures, given they have to also play Real Madrid. We just need to ensure we hold onto a lead of at least four points until they slip up, so they don’t even believe they have a ghost of a chance.

And to achieve this, we must absolutely beat Aston Villa away at the weekend in what is now looking like a proper six-pointer. Aston Villa is an odd duck this season. Firstly, they couldn’t find the net in four consecutive games, their worst ever start in the Premier League. Then, they embarked on a winning streak of nine games, with only one loss to Liverpool in the middle. They rank a very low 15th for xG created and 12th for xG allowed, but somehow, they are sitting pretty in third place. Only recently, they were battered at home by Wolves, yet they somehow ground out a 1-0 win, and then they won a seven-goal thriller away at Brighton, deservedly being the better side.

While a big chunk of our goals come from set pieces, Villa have scored almost half of their goals from outside the area. That purple patch must surely be ending soon, but for now our job is to make sure our defensive midfield is well protected, right?

But none of this will matter on Saturday afternoon, because Unai Emery knows exactly how to hurt Arteta’s Arsenal. In the last two seasons, with a more or less similar team, we have lost to them twice and won just once. And even that single win was only secured because David Raya pulled off some frankly unbelievable saves and assists to keep us in the match.

What works in our favour:

• Villa also has European commitments, and we have a deeper squad (though I’m not so sure now with all the injuries!)

• They had a hugely emotional game against Brighton, coming back from 0-2 down

• Martinez could be carrying a knock

What goes against us:

• Watkins has rediscovered his scoring boots, and boy, he loves a goal against us.

• We are very light on fit defenders.

• Their excellent historical record of results when playing us.

We will need Saliba, even if only on the bench, just to ensure we have some flexibility in our defence; we’ll need a truly magnificent performance from Saka and Eze (and not just talking about it); we need total focus for all ninety minutes and no silly celebrating of small-time achievements; and we must bring on fresh legs from the bench to keep up the pace.

We are the better side overall and possess the capability to win this game, and indeed, to win the league. The way it goes now, the only way we lose it is via self-destruction..