Leicester preview: Arteta calls on players rise to the challenge … again

Morning all.

It’s Leicester away today, and all eyes will be the on the front-line when it comes to team selection. After the injuries to Kai Havertz and Gabriel Martinelli, Mikel Arteta only has three realistic options for a front three: Raheem Sterling and Ethan Nwaneri in the wide positions, with Leandro Trossard in the middle as a striker/false 9, however you want to categorise it.

Asked about what he might go with at his press conference yesterday, the Arsenal manager said:

You don’t have to be very creative with the options that we have, I’m sure you’re going to get it right!

On the one hand, I don’t think there’s been a lot of time to do anything different on the training ground, so it’s likely that will be the trio that starts to retain some kind of consistency. On the other though, it is a very small group of players in terms of stature, and for a team whose proficiency at set-pieces comes from flooding the box with big guys, I wonder if that might give Arteta pause for thought. Is there a way he can put Mikel Merino in the side, for example, while also keeping an established forward option on the bench in case we need something later in the game?

With Ben White back and available again, he’ll fill one the spaces vacated by Havertz and Martinelli from the squad that beat Man City, but there’s room for one more. I’m guessing it will have to be a young player, an attacker from the Academy, but who? It might be instructive to see who gets the nod today, but there’s going to be a real onus on the starting XI to come up with the goods today. There won’t be much on the bench to change things, and that is going to be a challenge we face week after week after week until we get some of our injured attacking players back.

At his press conference yesterday, Arteta’s message was positive and bullish. Acknowledging the Havertz injury was a blow, he then seemed to speak directly to his squad about their ability to cope with setbacks this season:

It is a big blow because of the injuries that we have but fortunately, we’ve been through a lot this season. We have played without Gabriel, without Saliba, Ben White all season, Tomiyasu all season, Calafiori for two months, Merino for two months, Martin Odegaard for two months, Bukayo Saka for three months, Gabriel Jesus… all of them. So that’s it, that’s the challenge ahead. I love it and look forward because we are still where we are with all the things I mentioned on top of playing four times with 10 men, blah blah blah. Let’s see what the team is made of.

It’s true, we’ve had to deal with a lot, and today is another challenge in that regard. I also think something we have to contend with is how our paucity of options might make the opposition feel. If we’re a little concerned about our forward line, I would imagine this Leicester side are very happy not to be facing Havertz, Martinelli, Saka and Jesus, and that might give them a boost going into this one. Their form has been poor, but they can be dangerous, Arteta says:

At home against top opponents, they make life very difficult. I know Ruud very well and how he sets up his teams, and you can see the spirit there. They are very much alive and a threat.

We know this is going to be more difficult than it would be because of the injury situation, but it’s also a chance to show some resolve, inner-strength, quality, depth, whatever you want to call it. If this game doesn’t go well, the post-game stuff will all be about how weakened we are (and we are, obviously!), but a good performance and a solid win would go a long way to show that the players we have are able to cope in spite of that. Over the next couple of weeks that would be a very useful platform to create after losing two more key players from the most important area of the pitch.

A final thing to consider, is that after Liverpool dropped points in the Merseyside derby during the week, it’s a chance to just apply a little pressure ahead of their game tomorrow against Wolves. Whatever you think of our chances of overhauling them with our problems up front, that’s still something that’s in our hands today, so let’s go game by game and do what we can do. Fingers crossed.

Right, let’s leave it there for now. You can find a preview podcast over on Patreon if you need something to pass the time until kick off – and this episode is more about our various forward line options in the wake of the Havertz news. Join us later for live blog coverage, plus you’ll get the match report, goal clips, reaction, player ratings and much more over on Arseblog News.

Come on you reds!

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