The gunners will be heading into the international break off the back of a fairly decent start to the new campaign, gooners will be hoping that this remains the case after the international break when we take on Tottenham in the North London derby.
This was going to be a tough game even before the campaign started, and has been made even tougher due to the fact that we lost one our best players outright to a red card at the weekend, along with the injury to a man we brought in to provide cover for Declan Rice.
Both Rice and Merino will not be featuring in the game against our bitter rivals, which means that a shuffle of the pack will need to be done by Mikel Arteta. Debate among gooners has been ongoing about who’s going to replace Rice in the North London derby, with suggestions being made for Havertz dropping back into midfield, Jorginho starting alongside Partey, and even young Ethan Nwaneri being given the chance to start.
Among the potential replacements for Rice in the Tottenham game, the ones that intrigue me the most are Jurrien Timber and Oleksandr Zinchenko. Both being no strangers to playing a Midfield role with the latter more suited to the advanced left 8 position due to him being utilized in a similar position for his country,
Zinchenko will bring elite technical ability to our midfield along with more balance on that side given he’s left footed. A player comfortable to receive and swivel in the pockets as well as having the vision and skill to thread balls into attacking players, his Defensive frailties won’t get exposed as much as in the left back area, but I just think he lacks the physicality and bite to provide steel in the midfield for periods when we won’t be on top.
A player who has that steel and bite however is Jurrien Timber, a player who is no stranger to playing midfield roles in his short career as a defender, we saw this perfectly in action in his Ajax days where he was often utilized as a Midfielder to great effect. His superb ball carrying and tenacity in midfield means that he can excel both as a defensive midfielder as well as box to box. A midfield partnership of Timber, Partey and Odegaard is relatively unproven, but has all the qualities to be functional, creative and destructive at the same time.
Either one of these profiles will bring their own qualities to the midfield if chosen but the final decision rests in the hands of the gaffer, will either of these two be worth the risk after the international break?
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