Arsenal well and truly ‘got the job done’ against Shakhtar Donetsk on Tuesday evening, a no thrills performance which ultimately yielded three points.
Mikel Arteta continues to amaze some Arsenal fans by how little he is willing to rotate his team in such games, showing a good amount of respect to the visitors.
Supporters in N5 have been calling out for Ethan Nwaneri to start of late, but instead the youngster was an unused sub.
Arteta is clearly protecting the 17-year-old, wary of putting too much on his plate too soon.
Of course, given Arteta’s time working at Manchester City, it’s hard not to draw parallels to how patient Pep Guardiola was with a young Phil Foden.
That being said, Myles Lewis-Skelly did get his chance in the 72nd minute owing to Riccardo Calafiori’s knee injury.
Tommy Setford named on Arsenal bench after playing 90 minutes the same day
Fans will hope that Calafiori’s injury is nothing serious, but it’s a worrying trend that the Italian keeps picking up various knocks.
It seems unlikely that Calafiori will be ready for Liverpool on Sunday, perhaps meaning that Myles Lewis-Skelly could go up against Mohamed Salah.
That being said, Arsenal fans may have missed something rather extraordinary that happened at the Emirates Stadium yesterday with young goalkeeper Tommy Setford.
Setford was officially named on the Arsenal bench alongside Neto, both ready to deputise for David Raya if needed.
However, 18-year-old Setford had already played 90 minutes on Tuesday for Arsenal’s under-19s in the UEFA Youth league.
Setford was in net for Arsenal’s 1-0 defeat to Shakhtar Donetsk which kicked off at 1pm in Borehamwood.
Therefore it’s pretty remarkable that Setford then made himself available the same evening, even if he was unlikely to ever play minutes.
Gabriel Jesus tries his hardest to impress against Shakhtar Donetsk
Of course, of the players who were on the pitch, Gabriel Jesus was the focus of a lot of the attention.
The Brazilian appeared to be playing as a right winger – perhaps Arteta was testing Jesus in the role in case Bukayo Saka isn’t ready to face Liverpool.
As always, Jesus’ Arsenal performance was industrious and encouraging at times, but he still lacked the composure in front of goal that he’s been determined to show.
There’s a fair few selection dilemmas for Arteta before Arne’s Slot’s side arrive in north London on Sunday.
And it will be incredibly interesting to see if Lewis-Skelly is trusted to negate the threat of Salah, a huge test for the youngster if so.
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