It’s still early days for Arsenal, obviously in terms of how they will cope without the injured Bukaya Saka.
They got off to a winning start without that talismanic winger, albeit in rather unconvincing fashion as they beat Ipswich 1-0 at the Emirates. You would, however, say that two very awkward away games at Brentford and Brighton will give us a clearer indication of how they will cope without the England international.
However, whatever happens, I really feel they need to do everything they can in the January transfer window to strengthen what is now looking like a pretty scrappy attack.
Yes, January is a notoriously difficult time to do a decent job, but it’s not impossible and I hope Arsenal have been working very hard behind the scenes to try and identify a few opportunities that could give them the boost they need.
I’m not necessarily talking about a big move in January. Such moves may have to wait until the summer. But there is certainly room for the club to do something to fill the void that Saka’s absence will leave behind.
Arsenal’s interest in PL star CONFIRMED
Arsenal are always reluctant to do business in January and the message going into this window through the conversations I’ve had has always been that the club will be reactive rather than proactive in the market.
That’s understandable, but this seems like something they have to react to. Losing Saka for about ten weeks is a heavy blow. It’s that simple.
I don’t think anyone who comes has to be a substitute for someone like him. They just need another option who can play in the front line and can provide goals and assists.
I’m a huge fan Matheus Cunha and Arsenal’s interest in him it makes a lot of sense. I understand, however, that it would be very difficult to pry him away from Wolves in the middle of a season when they are fighting for relegation.
Arda Guler on loan from Real Madrid would also be an interesting short-term move. We have seen Arsenal have success with such a deal in the past. Just think of Martin Odegaard for example.
Guler is young, but he has shown that he can perform on the biggest stage and that he has the talent to make a difference in the final third.
So it could be an option for Arsenal, it’s up to them to go there and find them.
I thought Gabriel Martinelli played well on the right against Ipswich. There were some good moments and I think it would be unfair to write him off as an option in that side after just one start.
It will take some time for him to get used to playing in that role, and it will take some time for his teammates to get used to someone other than Saka occupying those positions.
Arsenal will be different without Saka. Mikel Arteta has already said that. I can’t just keep playing the same way while someone else plays his role and expect things to be exactly the same.
Martinelli had some good moments against Ipswich. He made some good crosses, including one that played a part in the goal.
I want to see him do more of that. Just get the ball onto his right foot and get it into the danger area before the defense is set up. The fact that he can do this, rather than cutting inside on his stronger foot as he does on the left, should be a boon for Arsenal.
It’s clear that he still needs to work on being a bigger threat on his own. He didn’t have a shot against Ipswich and that’s not good enough. He must be a threat, as Saka always is.
While we wait for the window to open, I still think Martinelli is Arsenal’s best option on the right. Ethan Nwaneri is another and is a more suitable replacement given the way he plays and the way he likes to cut inside on the left.
It would be good to see him move there at some point, but I think you have to stick with Martinelli for now and give him a chance to acclimate himself to the role.
It’s hard to watch Liverpool now and see them stumble.
We still have such a long way to go and nobody knows better than Arsenal how difficult it is to maintain such an impressive pace throughout the season.
But they just look so strong and obviously playing with so much confidence right now. It is very difficult to see where any long-term stumbling is coming from.
In Mo Salah, they currently have the best player in the world and he proves the difference week after week.
The numbers he puts up are incredible and when you have players like Cody Gakpo, Luiz Diaz and Jota backing him up, it’s just an embarrassment of riches for Arne Sloto.
Perhaps the contract issues with Salah, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Virgil van Dijk will start to have a negative impact on Liverpool, but at the moment it seems like the rival teams are grasping at straws.
Just look at the West Ham game. Before that everyone was talking about Trento and the rumors that he had already told Liverpool that he was going to Madrid.
Did it cause a disturbance? No, he played, he played well, Liverpool scored five and he scored one of them himself.
So I don’t really see it making much of a difference. If Arsenal or anyone else is going to fight back against Liverpool, they will have to do it by doing things right themselves, rather than relying on some sort of inter-squad implosion at Anfield.
What went wrong at Tottenham? I mean, that’s a question that one could study for years and still not come up with a proper answer.
To be honest, I’m not sure much has gone wrong for them this season. They are just Tottenham. This is what they do.
I mean, is anyone really surprised by their struggles this season? I can’t imagine they did.
They have some good players, they play good football and on their day they can beat anyone. They just look like a cup team under Ange Postecoglou to me.
It could finally win them a trophy. They’re in the semi-finals of the League Cup though and you’d think they should go far in the Europa League, but I can’t see them in contention for the league unless Postecoglou makes a bit of a change.
They are just too open and too easy to pick up.
They’ve had a lot of injuries this season and that has to be taken into account, but it’s not like they’re watertight when they’ve got Cristiano Romero and Micky van de Ven fit, is it? They are still conceding too many goals.
It will be interesting to see if Daniel Levy sticks with Postecoglou. You just never know what they’re going to do.
I guess when people ask what’s wrong with Spurs then Levy has to enter the conversation.
How many managers did he hire that failed? One real success story was Mauricio Pochettino and Levy sacked him shortly after leading the club to the Champions League final because he felt he could be better.
That didn’t turn out very well…
