Micah Richards has just warned Mikel Arteta that his Arsenal tactics are becoming too reliant on the brilliance of Bukayo Saka.
Arsenal just about collected all three points at home to Wolves, with Saka having to carry the team to the win at the Emirates Stadium.
Where does Bukayo Saka rank amongst Arsenal’s top five most important players right now?
Does he rank higher than Rice, Saliba or Trossard? 🤔
The winger managed to force two own goals against the Premier League’s bottom-placed team to help clinch the win in N5 on Saturday.
Now, Richards has fired a warning to the Arsenal boss about how clubs are going to approach facing his side, and things must change soon.
Mikel Arteta must be more creative at Arsenal, warns Micah Richards
Mikel Arteta has just been urged to become more creative with his tactics at Arsenal by Micah Richards.
The Gunners did not play well against Wolves, and Declan Rice was fuming at his teammates, despite getting the win.
On Saturday, Wolves sat in against Arteta’s team and made themselves very difficult to break down.
In the end, Arsenal produced 30 crosses against Wolves, with Bukayo Saka doing a lot of the heavy lifting in terms of being the main creative outlet for the North London club.
After the match, Richards told The Rest Is Football: “That’s how teams are going to set up against Arsenal now because they’re the team to beat and will sit in that low block.
Fill in the blanks: When everyone is fit, Arsenal’s strongest front three is ___________ + ___________ + ___________
Mikel Arteta is facing a real conundrum at Arsenal!
“I think they’ll need a little bit more imagination in the games now because I think that you can’t keep relying on Saka to dig something out.”
Arsenal have become very reliant on Saka, who has now created or scored five of Arsenal’s last six Premier League goals.
Arteta will need to make the necessary tweaks as soon as possible, with Manchester City back into form in the race for the Premier League title.
Eberechi Eze is struggling to regain his November form
Eberechi Eze hasn’t been quite as effective during recent matches; meanwhile, Martin Odegaard is also struggling to have a big impact on the team since returning from injury.
On the weekend, Eze was presented with Arsenal’s Player of the Month award for November as a reminder of just how well he started at the club.
With so much of Arsenal’s play clearly instructed to come from out wide, Odegaard and Eze are unable to have quite as much of an effect on the team.
This is something Arteta must fix to help make his side more unpredictable against teams that deploy a low block.
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