Mikel Arteta has his Art of War book in hand and he’s flicking through it to identify strategems for battles on two fronts.
He’ll be looking for answers on keeping soldiers fresh and motivated and he’ll be looking for tips on avoiding early burnout.
There are a few ways he can look at who plays tonight.
BRINGING PLAYERS INTO THE MIXER
Mo Elneny has been back in training for a few weeks and he has the ability to control the midfield against Zurich in a way that perhaps some of the younger players don’t. Giving him early minutes tonight means Arteta doesn’t risk the result with sloppy play or get tempted by starting Thomas P in a home game.
The second player we’re all wondering about is Zinchenko. No doubt in my mind Mikel would LOVE to have him available for the Chelsea game. He mumbled over how ready he was in his presser, but we’ve all seen him in training. If he starts him, he won’t be there at the weekend, if he gives him the final 20, he might roll the dice on him on Sunday. Why is this ok? Well, if he doesn’t make it through Sunday, he has two months to recover. If he does, we have the best left back in the team helping us navigate a BIG Chelsea game. Let’s remember last time we brought Zinchenko back early we didn’t see him for an extended period. BE GENTLE.
BREATHING FORM INTO PLAYERS
Our striking unit is a little off-key at the moment. Eddie isn’t scoring, but more worryingly, nor is Gabriel Jesus. I can’t be dealing with all these people online saying it’s ok for him not to have scored in a month. That won’t be how the player is feeling and it won’t be what the Brazil coach is looking at. I’d also imagine a manager that spent the summer saying he wanted goals from his striker will feel the same.
Will Arteta put the Jurassic Park T-rex against the baby goat this evening? Will he try and get his main man on the scoresheet so he’s ready to rip on Chelsea at the weekend? Who knows. But it would make sense to give him 60 minutes and get him a hat trick.
GETTING THE JOB DONE EARLY
Now, we saw against PSV what can happen, even in Europa League. That’ll be fresh in the mind of Arteta. So will he opt to go with a strong team that can batter Zurich early, then heavy rotate?
I don’t want to see it if I’m honest.
Hopefully Arteta has been paying attention to our rivals. Son of Spurs broke his face and he’s out of World Cup and needs surgery. Ben Chilwell is now out of the World Cup after picking up injury last night. Mikel really should pay attention to the canaries that are no longer squawking in the coal mine.
I would rather see our first teamers save a game, than see Bukayo, Ben White, and Saliba starting a game risking an injury blow before a HUGE game this weekend.
Chelsea is massive. We can end their chase of us. We can really cement our grip on the league. We’re not going to do that with dead first team player and we’re not going to do that if we kill our best players with long-term injuries.
A few years back, I was around a friend’s house at a party, we were all smashed, it was 2 in the morning and the boys started gambling online. One of the lads went £11,000 up. It was Christmas Eve, he had hit the jackpot. He was so drunk, he was sitting in his pants, in a vest, smoking a cigar. What happened next? He went for more. He ended the night LOSING £6,000.
Mikel has gambled like my drunk friend in his pants. Right now, he’s feeling like a genius, he’s buried my website, he is winning… though at some point, it’s worth putting your trousers back on, calling an Uber, and making it out of dodge like a bandit.
This is BIG night for Arsenal. Don’t lose £17,000. I’m VERY excited. We’ll be On The Whistle after.
Ok, now for some promotion.
We have new social accounts on INSTAGRAM & TikTok. Jump on them. We’ll be posting shorts!
