Mikel Arteta heads into the new season with a few interesting decisions to make at Arsenal.
Indeed, after a summer of spending, Arsenal have more depth and more options than ever before.
Arteta has big calls to make in numerous decisions – will Myles Lewis-Skelly start at left-back ahead of Riccardo Calafiori? Will Noni Madueke start on the left wing ahead of Gabriel Martinelli and will Viktor Gyokeres come straight into the team ahead of Kai Havertz?
Speaking on The Overlap, Ian Wright has been tasked with naming what he believes to be Arsenal’s best XI heading into the new season, and he made an interesting call on one player in particular.
Ian Wright leaves Ben White out of his best Arsenal XI
Wright had the difficult task of picking Arsenal’s best XI.
Of course, some players pick themselves here, but there is a tough call to make at right-back.
A few years ago, Ben White was one of Arsenal’s most important players as he started 36 out of 38 league games.
However, now, Wright has picked Jurrien Timber ahead of White in his best Arsenal XI, claiming that he will probably be the first-choice right-back going forwards.
Timber has been excellent for Arsenal since arriving, and he may now have nailed down a starting spot.
“Name the starting 11 for me Wrighty?” Wright was asked.
“It’ll probably be Timber, Saliba, Magalhaes, and probably Myles Lewis-Skelly, Zubimendi, Declan, Odegaard, Saka, Gyokeres, or Kai, I don’t know who that will be. And probably it might start with Martinelli. But I still think there’s more players to come.”
Mikel Arteta’s rotation dilemmas
Wright has picked what he believes Arsenal’s best XI is at the moment, but Mikel Arteta has numerous rotation dilemmas on his hands this season.
Look at Wright’s team and there are numerous notable absentees who will be expecting minutes this season.
Kai Havertz or Viktor Gyokeres will be disappointed to be benched, while Leandro Trossard, Mikel Merino and Riccardo Calafiori may also be miffed.
That’s before we even get onto Oleksandr Zinchenko who was vocal about his unhappiness this week.
Factor in that Ethan Nwaneri is a special talent who will be wanting minutes, and you have a difficult situation to juggle.
Arsenal have lots of depth now, but it’s not going to be easy to keep everyone happy with so much talent in the squad.
Receive a digest of our best Arsenal content each week direct to your mailbox
