Has Manchester City’s resounding 4-1 win wrapped up the Premier League? Perhaps not if Mikel Arteta and his players can hang in there
Arsenal’s defensive problems in the absence of William Saliba are little secret. They have conceded 2.17 goals a game without the centre-back; with him, that figure reads 0.93. Arguably they have missed Takehiro Tomiyasu in equal measure: he has been injured since mid-March, like Saliba, and could have slotted in at centre-back, taken on bespoke defensive tasks at left-back or, perhaps most attractively, been fielded at right-back to allow Ben White a move inside.
Jakub Kiwior is an option for Mikel Arteta but has been used sparingly since signing from Spezia in January.This reads like a list of complaints, though, and the reality is Mikel Arteta must find a way to make his backline work in May. Daft errors such as the pass Aaron Ramsdale, who has been inconsistent, presented to Southampton’s Carlos Alcaraz have not helped; nor have some uncharacteristically cheap ball concessions in midfield.
Arteta has spoken more than once about his plan to turn Saka into a durable, high-output machine who can produce consistently over a 60- or 70-game campaign. He has barely given the forward a break, starting with him on the bench only once, when he felt ill before this month’s visit of Leeds. While that approach may pay dividends in the long run perhaps it is taking its toll on a player who is 21.
A similar case can be made for Jorginho, who was brought in alongside Trossard and has the kind of trophy-winning experience Arsenal are widely proclaimed to lack. They have struggled for midfield control in recent weeks and Thomas Partey, in particular, has endured a slump in form.
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