They might not be top of the table at the moment, but Arsenal should feel supremely confident about their chances of finally ending their two-decade title drought come May.
Mikel Arteta’s side have already played Tottenham Hotspur, Aston Villa and Manchester City away, and with a kinder run of league fixtures to come over the next month or so, they should still be near the top come Christmas.
However, the next game on the agenda is a home Champions League clash with Paris Saint-Germain, and given the congested nature of the fixture list, Arteta should look to rest one of his stars and hand Ethan Nwaneri his first start in Europe.
Why Nwaneri should start
So, while Nwaneri’s simply unreal record of 27 goals and ten assists in 52 youth team games should be reason enough to give him a chance tonight, his recent form for the first team makes his case impossible to ignore.
So far this season, the 17-year-old gem has made three appearances for Arsenal, and while his start in the League Cup, in which he bagged a brace, has understandably catapulted him into the spotlight, his two substitute appearances in the league have also been just as revealing.
For example, when the Gunners were 1-0 up in the North London Derby a few weeks ago, and the clock was ticking down, Arteta turned to the Hale Ender and not another defender to come on for the last ten minutes or so.
While some youngsters would be overawed by such an intense match, the Enfield-born star looked utterly unphased, played his game, and looked like a threat from his very first touch.
Something similar happened on Saturday as well. With the score level in the 85th minute, instead of turning to the infinitely more experienced Gabriel Jesus, the manager once again threw the talented midfielder on, and while he couldn’t score, he came incredibly close to doing so and offered more in his short cameo than some players do in entire games.
Overall, it’s certainly a lot to ask of a youngster to start in a game against Paris Saint-Germain, but as the old saying goes, if you’re good enough, you’re old enough, and there can be no doubting now, that Nwaneri is certainly good enough.
Why Thomas Partey should be rested
Okay, so if Nwaneri is going to come into the starting lineup tonight, someone has to make way, and that player is Thomas Partey.
This will allow Declan Rice to start as the six and potentially Jorginho or Leandro Trossard to fill in as the left-eight, depending on how aggressive the manager plans on being.
Now, with that said, while we are dropping the former Atlético Madrid star from the starting lineup, it is not due to his performances, as while he’s had a few off-games this season, he’s also reminded fans of how good he can be in the games against City, Tottenham, and Villa.
In fact, even though he picked up a 6/10 for his display against Leicester City from football.london’s Kaya Kaynak, the “sensational” midfielder, as dubbed by La Liga expert Gerry Armstrong, put in a decent performance in the first half, and by the time he was taken off in the 85th minute, he had taken 107 touches, completed 87 of 96 passes, completed 100% of his long balls and made four tackles.
However, he did start to tire in the second 45, which is entirely understandable as, aside from the match against Bolton, he has started every game so far this season, and when you take into account his injury record, that is a lot of football in a short space of time.
2020/21
3
81
21
2021/22
3
152
19
2022/23
2
29
6
2023/24
2
143
34
Total
10
430
80
Across his entire Arsenal career, the Ghanaian superstar has missed 80 games for club and country due to ten different injuries, and due to his seeming importance to the team this season, Arteta cannot afford to lose him for an extended period.
Therefore, while it’s an important game, Partey should be given the chance to rest tonight, as a midfield of Rice, Jorginho or Trossard, and the incredibly exciting Nwaneri should be enough to get the job done at home, especially if Arteta goes full strength elsewhere in the team.
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