It just had to be Lacazette, didn’t it? Is there any better metaphor for how this season has gone for Arsene Wenger and his Arsenal team than over £100 million in striking talent being out of contention for the Europa League round of 16, just as success in that competition has become crucial to the club’s Champions League hopes? In fairness, they knew that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang would be cup tied in the Europa League when they bought him, but the news that Alexandre Lacazette has had an arthroscopic procedure on his knee and will be out for 4-6 weeks is a crushing blow for Wenger as he tries to figure out who will lead the line on Thursday against Ostersunds.
Mercifully, the news is not all bad for the Gunners, as Mesut Ozil has thus far managed to avoid the “illnesses” and “injury tweaks” that he always picks up before the less than glamorous matches. He has travelled with the team to Sweden, and Arsene Wenger has indicated that he is likely to pick a near full-strength XI without an FA Cup match to worry about early next week. However, this still leaves the manager with a problem, despite drawing a favourable opponent for the round of 16. With just one full-fledged first team striker in Danny Welbeck to select, Wenger might have no choice but to tap into his u23 squad for another option should anything happen to Welbeck. Jack Wilshere, Laurent Koscielny, Aaron Ramsey and Petr Cech have also been left at home rather than be risked on the ice cold, hard pitch in Ostersunds.
Not having either frontline striker available could be bad enough, but missing out on the dynamism of both Ramsey and Wilshere in midfield will almost certainly compound the problem. Wenger will most likely be forced to choose the responsible, if unspectacular pairing of Mohammed Elneny and Granit Xhaka in the centre of the pitch. With Ainsley Maitland-Niles figuring into contention as well for his preferred central midfield role, perhaps Wenger will elect to play his talented English youngster in Ramsey’s usual role, giving him the freedom to use his pace and launch forward with the attack. His time at left back has revealed him to be a capable defender with excellent closing burst to get in a position to make the tackle, so it is not inconceivable that he could even offer more defensive cover than the marauding Ramsey in a central midfield pairing.
Time For Eddie?
Maitland-Niles might not be the only young player to make it into the side, as concerns over the pitch conditions and Danny Welbeck’s injury history have led many to favour 18 year old Eddie Nketiah to start against Ostersunds. The young striker has gone from a promising youngster to future star in the eyes of many fans since his late game goal scoring heroics against Norwich City earlier in League Cup competition saved his club’s best chance at a trophy this season. At 5’9, Nketiah doesn’t fit the usual template of a Premier League striker, but much like his senior teammate, the similarly sized Alexandre Lacazette, it is his quickness and instincts in the box that have scouts drooling over the possibilities. He has been generating serious buzz for his performances at the U23 level and in his handful of senior appearances this season, and every goal he scores is a bit more egg on the face of the Chelsea academy bosses, who decided to release Nketiah at 14 because he lacked the stereotypical size of a Premier League striker.
However no matter where he has gone or at which level he is playing, one thing has always been true of Nketiah: he simply scores goals. It is that quality that Arsenal will need most of all on Thursday. Even with a truncated squad, the Gunners should have enough technical ability in the midfield to boss Graham Potter’s Ostersunds squad around, but they will need someone on the end of their created chances to convert them into goals. Welbeck is not only an injury risk on the frozen pitch, but he has the tendency to go cold in front of goal. In a way, he and Nketiah are polar opposites: Welbeck is an absolute physical specimen, with the size, strength and work rate that managers love, but he is far from a natural finisher. Nketiah might be half a foot shorter and not nearly as strong as his teammate, but is perhaps already more efficient in front of goal. Over 90 minutes, Wenger could utilise both to extract the goals he needs to set up an easier reverse fixture at home in a week’s time, where Arsenal will hope to face minimal drama before their showdown with Manchester City in the League Cup final.
A Nuisance Now, A Critical Problem Later?
Given the Gunners’ bipolar form this season, victory against Ostersunds is anything but assured, and there would be something deeply poetic about a young and promising British manager, who has followed an unusual path to recognition by managing an up and coming Swedish side, beating a traditional power of the English game in a shocking contest. Graham Potter is destined to be a Premier League manager one day, and shocking Arsenal would be a tremendous feather in the cap of his growing CV. However, it is still likely that the infinitely more talented and higher paid Gunners will get through the round of 16, but that is where the real concerns might begin. Lacazette will not be back into contention until the middle to the end of March if all goes well, and there is an outside chance he could be available to start should Arsenal make it through to the quarter finals, which begin in April. A strong field of contenders in this season’s Europa League suggests that their next opponent will be of much higher quality than a relatively young club from Sweden, and having a proper number 1 striker would be a massive help to their chances.
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