If the season started next week, Arsenal could feel they are as well placed as any of their rivals to get off to a strong start. The wait for the signings of Declan Rice and Jurrien Timber to be finalized may seem endless to supporters, but in a matter of days those two should follow in Kai Havertz’s footsteps by joining the Gunners, who have more than £ 200 million would have been pledged to a side that set the pace in the first 30 games of last season’s Premier League.
With Granit Xhaka gone and Thomas Partey’s future in doubt, there may be more restructuring needed in Arsenal’s engine room than one would reasonably expect from a team that performed so exceptionally last season. What will this new team look like on the field? Let’s see:
Built-up versatility
One thing that won’t change all that much is the foundation this Arsenal team is built on. Aaron Ramsdale and William Saliba, both armed with new contracts, look set to be building blocks for this season and, if they can keep the former out of the clutches of Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain, for years to come. Gabriel Magalhaes could also be added to that category. The Brazilian isn’t decorated in the same way as many others on this side, but he was one of the Premier League’s outstanding centre-backs.
twenty3
Those three are perhaps more important than anyone on Mikel Arteta’s team. With Ramsdale, Saliba and Gabriel, Arsenal had the pace, technical quality and physicality to play the staggeringly high line you see above. Opponents were chained in their final third by the Gunners’ press, who were adept at forcing kicks into the canal for Saliba and Gabriel to mop up. When Saliba and Takehiro Tomiyasu suffered season-ending injuries on March 16, Arsenal’s defensive integrity fell apart quite a bit. They simply didn’t have the legs to cover themselves behind them.
Saliba’s return next season should ease the defensive calamities of the spring, as should the arrival of Timber, deepening Arsenal’s options at centre-back with Jakub Kiwior, Ben White and Rob Holding tending to excel as the backs are against the wall. The most intriguing thing about Timber’s arrival, though, is what it could do for Arteta’s buildup capabilities.
Last season, Arsenal fluctuated between a 2-3-5 and 3-2-5 in possession. In some games, Ben White can act as a supporting centre-back, withdrawing into the field to provide greater protection and safety against the counterattack. In others, he bombed beyond Bukayo Saka. What was more consistent, at least when he was fit, was what Oleksandr Zinchenko offered. A left back without a ball, he was the heartbeat of the Arsenal midfield. No wonder when he got injured, the Gunners’ ball progress stalled.
Club sources believe Timber can be developed into someone who eventually offers something that approaches Zinchenko’s accumulated contribution, but reverses from the right flank, not the left. The soon-to-be ex-Ajax man also brings more options. In last season’s Eredivisie, no one completed more passes to the last third than Timber, who also made the most advanced passes of any defender in the league. He also registered in the league’s top 15 for carries in the final third, no wonder he moved more yards with the ball at his feet than anyone else.
Once Timber is integrated, an intriguing preseason subplot could be whether Arteta chooses to use Timber in the same way as John Stone‘ committed to Manchester City last term, a central defender stepping into midfield. Indeed, Arsenal were able to fully ape their rivals’ four centre-back approach, with Kiwior looking promising at left-back. With the Poland international on one flank and White on the other (Tomiyasu could also fill in on either side), the ball progression could have come from one of the many centre-backs, that’s how confident they all look at the ball.
However, what none of these systems seem to need is a full defender flying to the byline. Kieran Tierney is one of the few great players from the pre-Arteta era still at the Emirates Stadium, but he struggled to adapt to his manager’s system last season. His future after the transfer window closes is in doubt, although there has been no sign of interest in the Scotland international so far.
The trio in midfield
Nowhere is Arsenal’s investment more pronounced than in midfield. Perhaps unsurprisingly, if there was a clear spot ripe for improvement on Arteta’s side last season, it was Xhaka’s left-eight position, a position the manager himself doubted the Switzerland international could fill. He has fared far better than anyone could have expected so far, scoring seven goals, by far the most he had ever scored in a home season. That’s a pretty impressive return for a repurposed deep-lying playmaker, but considering his touchmap, a higher return might be achievable.
twenty3
Havertz is the man who will succeed Xhaka and he will likely provide more goal threat, even if he doesn’t have the instinct to close dangerous gaps like his predecessor. Arsenal’s other new man in midfield, Rice, is as promising a young anchorman as there is in the market. He may not yet have Thomas Partey’s passing radar, but in every other respect he is the Ghanaian’s equal, perhaps even superior as ball winner and carrier.
Havertz, Rice and Martin Odegaard sound like a midfield three that could dominate most of the Premier League. Where the intrigue lies in pre-season and beyond is what happens when Arsenal find themselves in the middle of the park against a team that can match them. The simplest answer is Partey coming into contention, perhaps replacing Havertz, and Arsenal getting bigger. However, the 30-year-old is the subject of interest from Juventus and Saudi clubs Al Ahli and Al Khaleej. If Arsenal let him go – and they charged a considerable price for his services – then a replacement would be sought. There is also the prospect of bringing veteran Jorginho into the XI for the biggest games; he tends to deliver in those matches but is more of a pace setter than ball winner.
Depth options
Further on there are also depth questions. The front three of Saka, Gabriel Jesus and Gabriel Martinelli seem fixed, perhaps exaggerated. Last season, none of City’s wide forwards started in more than 24 of the 38 Premier League appearances and the most minutes were given to Bernardo Silva, who registered 2,205. Erling Haland was one of the first names on the team sheet, but his supporting cast changed throughout the game. Martinelli, on the other hand, registered 2,789 minutes and Saka 3,181. It’s no surprise that the latter in particular slumped in the final games, a huge attacking burden for a 21-year-old that eventually weighed on him.
Still, there are options for Arteta next season. The question is how often he will use them. Leandro Trossard was a scintillating addition from Brighton midway through the campaign, averaging just under an assist every 90 minutes. He presents himself as perhaps the most natural alternative to Jesus as a false nine with Eddie Nketiah as a more orthodox centre-forward. That makes Folarin Balogun the odd one out, at the moment his most likely destination is seen as another Premier League club if he were to leave, as Arsenal demanded a hefty price for one of Ligue 1’s top scorers last season .
On the left, Arsenal have no shortage of alternatives to Martinelli and Arteta can be expected to use Reiss Nelson, who he played when tying a new four-year contract, and Emile Smith Rowe, briefed before he left to join the Under-21s win European Championship that he should not leave in the summer. Together, those two academy graduates played just 384 Premier League minutes; both seasons were interrupted by injury, but they have shown in flash the kind of talent that could make a valuable contribution to the side.
However, can Arsenal take the weight off Saka? There are internal solutions. Jesus has excelled on the right wing for City before, he could play there with Trossard, Nketiah or even Havertz down the middle. That seems more like the Gunners weakening two sections of the field when their best striker needs a break. If there’s a fourth signing at Arsenal who doesn’t replace an outgoing player — and there hasn’t been the rapid progress there was when Timber, Rice and Havertz were brought in — then it’s most likely a striker who will put the pressure on Saka could lighten up. That could be a hard sell for Arsenal; Arteta isn’t exactly known for rotation and even if that changes, the new guy would almost certainly be the support act for the franchise in Saka.
So it seems that with the first pre-season games looming in the distance, Arsenal’s vision for how they will approach next season is set. Whether it will be enough to close the gap to Manchester City is more up for debate.