Ethan Nwaneri delivered another performance nothing shot of total excitement. I will not even describe that goal, it just needs to be seen. But what I definitely know that I want to see more of those! Yes, he was not always efficient in the final stage, but he does a lot of work in the build-up, he asks for the ball, he dribbles past opponents, his style is brave and aggressive. And he’s definitely more efficient than Sterling, Jesus and even Martinelli with his chances.
The other observation is that with Nwaneri the team finally again looks as a single attacking unit, rather than a bit disassembled piece. I know it was against Preston, but I can’t help but think we didn’t use all the tools in our single loss against Bournemouth. Why couldn’t Nwaneri play against Shakhtar or Southampton? Why couldn’t he start against Bournemouth or come from the bench much earlier?
And again on the post-match press-conference Arteta gives all signs that there will be slow integration of him. Even though 3 out of 6 reporter questions were about Nwaneri. At the same he praises Nwaneri in all areas – shots, mentality, work rate. So why then his gaming time is so limited? I guess we’ll never receive an answer to this question.
I don’t think Nwaneri is a great fit for Newcastle or Inter, as both matches will require a lot of physical work. But Chelsea could be a good time to roll him out again. They definitely have gaps in the back that could be exploited by a quick-footed player.
Did anyone else even play against Preston?
It’s been a good game for most of our reserve players. Although Zinchenko looked quite lively, I think he has some sort of conflict with Arteta. It’s been otherwise quite a weird development, where he started the season as a first-team player and now behind Lewis-Skelly in the pecking order. Zinchenko was known to have some conflicts before, for example, with Pep. But I still think, given his Premier League experience and ability work with the ball, we can benefit from him as a player.
And I would prefer to see Lewis-Skelly developed as a left-eight, since we are quite thin in that area. We have all seen that Rice’s best position is at 6, which leaves us only with Merino in left-8 area. So it would be quite beneficial to develop a player who can step in there if needed. And be a long-term prospect for the team, since Merino doesn’t probably have more than 2-3 years left to play on this level.
Newcastle visit on the horizon
We open the gameweek with the early visit to St James Park. It’s not the same Newcastle we played last year. They are much more exposed in the back, especially from the wings, considering they usually play Hall and Livramento in those positions. Their main danger comes from counterattacks, utilising the speed of player like Isak, Gordon and Barnes. So the main thing that we should be worried about is to press them as soon as we lose the ball and not let this counter attacks to happen. Maybe also have extra 1:1 attention to Gordon and Isak. I have a feeling that our goal will come sooner or later and this is that case where defensive solidity could be the key.
If we have Ben White concerns for Saturday, I still think Timber, Saliba, Kiwior + either MLS or Zinchenko should do the job. The biggest Newcastle threat is coming from their right side and Timber should be ale to deal with that. We could also get Partey there and shift Timber to the left and I have a feeling Arteta would lean to this setup. While Partey definitely showed his level of defensive awareness with Liverpool and reduced the threat coming from Diaz (so he can probably do the same against Gordon), I think it’s more important that our wingbacks would be able to apply additional pressure on Newcastle wings by creating overlaps. Partey doesn’t do that, he sits in midfield, which makes Saka’s job as our main creator much harder, rather than when he is paired with White or Timber.
I also think it’s important that we have a massive midfield presence, so Rice/Merino pairing looks quite reasonable. In general I would expect the same starting line-up as Liverpool, with a new Saliba/Kiwior central defender pairing. I am not as pessimistic on Kiwior as most of the fans. I think he needs practice to get into rhythm and he would deal better with the opponents. But If Gabriel is fit to play, the selection process would be probably much easier.
Alright then let’s get our revenge for last year!
