One win from Europe

As with last week, this week has been a strange one for Arsenal. The victory over Liverpool was followed up with a win over Manchester City to book Arsenal a place in the FA Cup Final before then losing 1-0 to Aston Villa on Tuesday, ending hopes of qualifying for Europe through the league. In preparation for the last two games of the season, next season’s kit has been released, along with new shirt numbers and an update has been given on Skhodran Mustafi ahead of the Cup Final.

On Saturday evening Arsenal booked themselves a place in a record 21st FA Cup Final by beating Manchester City 2-0. Given how the previous meeting between the two teams played out on June 17th, it was expected that City would repeat a similarly dominant performance, especially since Arsenal looked exhausted at the end of the game versus Liverpool in midweek. However, the progression of Arsenal under Arteta, even in the last month, was clear. Arsenal’s fight and spirit couple with Arteta’s restrictive, counter focussed tactics saw them produced an inspired performance. Arsenal sought to press City as they looked to build up with a particular focus on Lacazette pressing Gundogan and Xhaka pressing De Bruyne in order to stifle their link between defence and midfield. Furthermore, the handling of City’s wingers Sterling and Mahrez by the wing backs helped to further limit City’s creativity. Bellerin and Maitland-Niles repeatedly showed their man inside, funnelling them towards Ceballos, Xhaka and the 3 centre backs in order to crowd the middle of the pitch. This resulted in City having just 1 shot on target the entire game, an incredible stat considering their wealth of attacking options and Arsenal’s notable defensive issues throughout the season. On the other side of the ball Arsenal were calm and confident, looking to either build up in a controlled manner or counter attack quickly. These two approaches each were showcased in the goals. For the first goal, Arsenal won the ball back in their box before patiently passing the ball up from the back in a 10 man, 18 pass move which resulted in Aubameyang finishing impressively from Pepe’s cross. The second goal came from Pepe and Tierney linking up following a City corner before Tierney found Aubameyang over the top with the striker slotting home. The two goals showed the range of Arsenal’s play and Aubameyang’s clinical finishing helped propel Arsenal into the final. The final is now set up between Arteta’s Arsenal and Lampard’s Chelsea who swept Manchester United aside 3-1 in their semi-final. When Arsenal last won the cup in 2017, they beat Manchester City in the semi-final before playing Chelsea in the final so hopefully history will repeat itself on August 1st.

On Thursday morning Arsenal and Adidas unveiled the new Arsenal home kit for the 2020/21 season. The new kit will be worn against Watford on Sunday and against Manchester City at Wembley on August 1st. With the new kit came the announcement of 3 new shirt numbers: William Saliba will wear the number 4, previously worn by Mohamed Elneny, Bukayo Saka will wear the number 7, and Elneny will wear the number 25. Whilst shirt numbers aren’t the be all and end all, they can offer some hints for next season. Saliba taking the number 4 suggests that he will be heavily involved in Arteta’s plans. Given his price tag and the lack of standout quality in the position this was expected anyway but the number 4 shirt affirms this. Arteta has already warned not to expect too much from the youngster since he is 19 and has never played in the Premier League but given Arsenal’s defensive struggles at times this season, he’ll be hoping Saliba can make an impact. In 2017 Arsène Wenger spoke about the implementation of youth players and his remarks are very applicable to Saliba: “You pay for the education of young players with points.”

(Video: @theofficialwfa)

Given the issues Arsenal have had at centre back for many years now, it is time to stand by Saliba in the hope he’ll help to solve the problems. With the emergence of Bukayo Saka this season and his recent signing of a contract extension, it is not surprising that he has taken a new number. His acquisition of the number 7 suggests that he’ll remain a key figure for Arsenal over the coming season and it’ll be exciting to see how he continues his development. Mohamed Elneny moving to the number 25 suggests that he’ll either be leaving this summer of returning to play a bit part role at the club. His loan at Besiktas has an option to buy but with the uncertainties of the market, Besiktas may feel that the previously agreed fee is now too high. Arsenal currently lack numbers in midfield heading into next season so the return of Elneny wouldn’t be overly surprising but his limited quality on the ball will be a concern for Arteta who may look to move him on to help fund a more suitable midfielder.

In his pre-Watford press conference on Thursday, Arteta was asked to provide an update on Skhodran Mustafi for the FA Cup Final, following a hamstring injury picked up against Manchester City. Arteta responded: “We have to see how he evolves in the next few days. At the moment, I doubt it.” For a player that played just 103 minutes in the first half of the Premier League season, not making the squad for 15 of those games, Mustafi has had an impressive resurgence under Arteta and has become a regular fixture in the back 3. Despite a history of mistakes, Mustafi has a good passing range and provides a goal threat from set-pieces. He is now combining these assets with fewer mistakes and the added security of the back 3 is helping Mustafi to improve. With Sokratis’ lack of ball playing ability and Rob Holding’s inconsistency, Mustafi seemed a shoe-in for the right sided centre back spot for the FA Cup Final. For someone who looked so set to start one of the biggest games of Arsenal’s season, his role for next season is quite uncertain. The arrival of William Saliba and Pabli Mari on a permanent deal, as well as David Luiz resigning, could see Mustafi relegated to the bench should the back 3 system continue. However, should Arteta revert back to his favoured back 4, Mustafi’s positon in the pecking order could lend him to being sold, especially with the likes of Callum Chambers and Rob Holding at the club who are on lower wages and are more willing to play a sporadic role. Despite his uncertainty heading into next season and his history of mistakes, Mustafi’s turnaround has been impressive and his absence from the FA Cup Final is a blow.

Following the loss to Aston Villa on Tuesday night, Arsenal’s hopes of achieving a European place through the league have gone. The entire season now hangs on the FA Cup Final which holds similarities to last year’s Europa League Final. Consequently, Sunday’s game against Watford feels quite insignificant and it’ll be interesting to see whether Arteta uses it as an opportunity to rest his players or as a way of carrying form into the final.

Adam Perry - 24/07/2020