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A lot of the focus on Arsenal’s evolution this season has rested on players the club bought in the summer. The signings of Kai Havertz and David Raya gave birth to lengthy discourses on both players (I have written about both several times in this column), both took some time to really settle into the team but now I think most Arsenal fans ‘see the vision’ to indulge internet vernacular for a second.
The signing of Declan Rice did not require any such squinting, his induction was swift and the need for him was obvious. Arsenal fell short of the title last season because, among other things, they weren’t quite tight enough off the ball. Havertz and Raya have helped with that in a tangential way but the way in which Rice amended that weakness has been glaringly obvious.
While all those elements have been important and worthy of discussion, more quietly Arsenal have also been able to reduce their reliance on certain important players- particularly players for whom fitness has been an issue. The signings of Jorginho and Rice in consecutive transfer windows in 2023 has made Thomas Partey’s absences more of a footnote.
The ‘false 9’ partnership between Kai Havertz and Leo Trossard has downgraded Gabriel Jesus’ recent absence from catastrophe to inconvenience. The purchase of Jurrien Timber was intended to give Arsenal a renewed depth at centre-half and full-back after the twin losses of Saliba and Tomiyasu last March totally derailed the Gunners’ title charge.
Arsenal have slowly been building depth and variety. Arguably, Bukayo Saka is the only remaining member of the ‘core’ team for whom prolonged absence would spell disaster. It is to the credit of Arteta and Edu therefore, that Arsenal have been playing with, arguably, their fourth choice left-back in recent weeks in Jakub Kiwior and nobody seems to have really noticed.
The brittleness of Tomiyasu and Zinchenko remains an annoyance, while Jurrien Timber has been unavailable all season. At the…
Source link : https://arseblog.com/2024/03/what-next-for-zinchenko/
Author : Tim Stillman
Publish date : 2024-03-07 13:00:26
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