Welcome to this week’s edition of Clayton’s Calculator where I examine the main “numbered” talking points for Arsenal FC. This week I’ll be discussing the Mkhitaryan/Sanchez swap, Nacho Monreal’s return to the team, and the resurgence of the 4-3-3 for Arsenal. Let’s get started…
Our New #7
The final act of the Sanchez saga seemed to drag on forever, but it’s finally over. For over a year it was obvious that Sanchez was looking for a move. Many of us were surprised he didn’t head off to Manchester City in the summer. The second the window opened on the 1st it seemed only a matter of time until he reunited with Guardiola. To everyone’s surprise, he was swooped up by Machester United because City wasn’t willing to meet his wage demands. Let me just repeat that again. Even Manchester City (a team that is essentially owned by the United Arab Emirates) thought Sanchez was demanding too much. The fact that Sanchez will be earning more than the likes of Hazard, de Bruyne, and Aguero is absolutely ludicrous, but to each their own.
We now welcome Henrikh Mkhitaryan as our new #7. He will be following in the footsteps of past greats like Liam Brady, Rocky Rocastle, and Tomas Rosicky. Mkhitaryan signed with United after the 15/16 season in which he was named on the Bundesliga Team of the Season and had 23 goals and 25 assists in all competitions. Mourinho never really seemed to give him much of a chance outside of Europa League games, but there’s no doubt that he’s a quality player. He excels in attacking teams so if he pairs up well with Ozil and Lacazette, the results could be spectacular.
To top it all off, Mkhitaryan even mentioned way back in 2009 that his favourite team was Arsenal. Looks like we’ll finally have a #7 that plays for the badge.
4 Goals Thanks to Nacho
Speaking of those who play for the badge, I had barely started sipping my coffee on Saturday morning before Nacho scored a goal and assisted two others in the 4-1 rout against Palace. He added to his tally yesterday by smashing an open header that pinballed off of Alonso and Rudiger into the goal. Monreal without a doubt been has been our best defensive player of the season so far. He’s performed well as a centre back in a back 3, but he provides a great attacking outlet when he can run up the left side as a left-back.
Monreal is having his best season yet and he’ll only become more important as Mertesacker and Koscielny head towards retirement. Let’s hope he’s fully recovered now as some consistency at the back is incredibly important for this point of the season. With Chambers, Holding, and an ailing Koscielny swapping in and out of the back, Mr Consistent is a welcome addition back to the squad.
A Return to 4-3-3
It almost seems like ages since we’ve deployed a true defensive midfielder as a part of a three-man midfield. Xhaka has been the unofficial DM for some time now. It’s clearly not a position he’s comfortable in. He’s better utilized further up the field alongside Wilshere. You can almost tell that he feels freer to create when having someone like Elneny behind him. If only we didn’t just sell an experienced DM to Valencia…Elneny will just have to do for now. While 2 games is a fairly small sample size, the signs have been very positive. I’m already having dreams about a front 3 of Mkhitaryan, Ozil, and Lacazette, anchored by Xhaka and Wilshere.
Whether it’s the formation, players coming back from injury, Sanchez being replaced, or a combination of all three, it’s hard not to be optimistic about our chances of winning the Europa League or even sliding into 4th (and I didn’t even mention the delicious possibility of adding Aubameyang to our ranks).
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