Arteta must immediately drop the 5/10 Arsenal star who was so “miserable” against Brentford

The year 2024 did not come Premier League title for Arsenal but they were the best team in the country during that calendar year. The data doesn’t lie.

So what will 2025 bring? Prosperity? Calmness? Drama? First Premier League title in over 20 years? Yes, it really has been that long.

He won’t bring in Bukayo Saka for a few more months due to his hamstring problem, but without Saka there is no problem for Arsenal, who have been 100% effective since the Hale End talent was ruled out.

Although they only secured a 1-0 win over Ipswich at home to see off 2024, they got the new year off to a good start by securing a 3-1 win. However, it was not without fear.

Despite Brentford barely managing a shot in the opening 13 minutes of the clash, the Bees took the lead through the lively Bryan Mbeum.

Arsenal have now kept a league clean sheet away from home in eight attempts, but rallied to close the gap between themselves and Liverpool at the top of the table to six points.

Gabriel Jesus hit back in the first half before second-half strikes from Mikel Merino and Gabriel Martinelli secured the points.

Arsenal’s best players against Brentford

With Kai Havertz out through illness on Wednesday night, it made for an interesting Arsenal line-up selected by the boss Mikel Arteta.

Jesus was once again in the lead, striking from close range to score his sixth goal in his last four matches in all competitions.

However, it was not the shooters who caught the eye the most in West London. It was a certain Ethan Nwaneri who got his first start in the Premier League at the ground where it all started for him as a 15-year-old.

Gtech was where he became the youngest Premier League player of all time and made another appearance at the same stadium.

Usually used by Arteta as an attacking midfielder, Nwaneri shone on the right side of the attack on this occasion.

He immediately looked at home and already looks like the closest thing Arsenal have to Saka while he remains out.

Naturally left-footed, Nwaneri moved inside and dazzled the Brentford defense on more than one occasion with his quick feet. There were no goals to show for his efforts, but as Football.London’s Tom Canton he said in his player evaluations after the game, he was ‘such a great spark’.

Arteta has sometimes been accused of not trusting the stars of tomorrow, but he has shown great faith in Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly.

Speaking of which, both should start after one player’s away performance tonight…

Riccardo Calafiori’s performance in numbers

Lewis-Skelly’s emergence at left-back in recent weeks has been very impressive. As an 18-year-old, he played in a Jurrien Timber-like manner, able to pivot into midfield, contribute in the final third and add security in possession. The very fact he has an average success rate of 97%. in the league this phrase is proof of that.

So surely he has to start, right? Well, after the performance of Riccardo Calafiori on wednesday you can certainly argue that case.

The Italian has caught the eye in fits and starts since signing for Bologna this summer, notably scoring that brilliant goal against Manchester City a few months ago.

However, he has a moment of uncertainty in him and was undoubtedly at fault for the first goal scored by Mbeumo.

Everyone knows what the winger wants to do – cut down the inside of his left foot – and Calafiori duly lets him do it. And all too easy. According to one Arsenal content creator, it was a ‘bad’ moment and this earned him a player rating of 5/10 from the aforementioned Canton who noted that ‘some poor passes showed that this was indeed a post-injury player’.

So it’s hard to judge too harshly, but the fact that he conceded possession 13 times, the most of any Arsenal player apart from Jesus, was far from positive. So it was no surprise to see him finish the game with a passing accuracy of 77%, well below Lewis-Skelly’s average this season.

Calafiori will undoubtedly improve the more he settles into this Arsenal squad, but he is currently overshadowed by the raw teenage prospect.

His time will come, but for now, Arteta must leave the left-back spot regularly to Lewis-Skelly.