Mikel Arteta has ‘ridiculous’ ace up his sleeve to help Arsenal beat Liverpool to Premier League title

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Arsenal are six points adrift of Premier League leaders Liverpool, but not all hope is lost in the title race for Mikel Arteta’s men.

The Merseysiders have demonstrated signs of vulnerability in recent weeks, while the Gunners can only improve as their squad returns to full fitness.

Bukayo Saka is out until March, but could still make a significant impact once he’s recovered from his hamstring injury.

Meanwhile, the likes of Kai Havertz, Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard are beginning to flash glimpses that suggest they’re picking up form.

It’s a large points deficit Arsenal have to overturn, but one man’s recent exploits will certainly help Arteta remain optimistic.

‘Ridiculous’ Leandro Trossard has picked up form for Arsenal

Trossard proved his worth with an excellent performance in Arsenal’s 2-2 draw with Aston Villa last week.

The Belgian created goals for Martinelli and Havertz, quickly shifting the ball away from his man and firing dangerous crosses across the box for both strikes.

A live wire throughout the encounter with Unai Emery’s side, Trosard also netted the winner for Arsenal against Tottenham earlier this month.

This improvement in performance levels hasn’t gone unnoticed.

Arteta waxed lyrical about Trossard in his press conference on Friday morning, while journalists on the Athletic’s Handbrake Off podcast also praised the 30-year-old’s recent outings.

“He plays most of the time, doesn’t he?” Ian Stone, the podcast’s presenter, said.

“He certainly gets on quite regularly. Listen, he had a great game against Villa at the weekend, he came on [against Zagreb] and was useful again.

“So, hopefully he’ll keep it going.”

Meanwhile, James McNicholas commented on the former Brighton man reaching one hundred games for Arsenal by coming on against Zagreb.

The journalist said: “One hundred games in almost exactly two years, I mean that’s quite a remarkable number of appearances he’s racked up in a relatively short time at Arsenal.”

Art de Roche jumped on the Trossard hype, describing his output as ‘ridiculous’.

“Just on Trossard, I just thought I’d add that in those one hundred games he’s contributed to 41 goals,” he said.

“So, [he’s] almost contributing to a goal every other game, which is ridiculous.”

• READ MORE: Leandro Trossard says Arsenal have a young player who is ‘so strong’ – it’s ‘unbelievable’

Trossard’s statistics are impressive

This praise doesn’t come without substantiated evidence, as Trossard’s underlying data from this season remains positive.

While his purple patch in front of goal from last season may have died down somewhat, he’s still contributed to eight goals in just over 1,000 minutes, averaging a rate of 0.56 goals and assists per 90 minutes.

He’s managing 2.54 shots per 90 and accumulating 0.26 expected goals per 90, which indicates that he’s still more than capable of finding himself in dangerous positions inside the box consistently.

If Arsenal are going to win their first Premier League title for over 20 years in the next six months, maximising Trossard’s level will be key.