The midfield in the Arsenal squad was highted during the 3-0 win over Oxford United to have a clear issue regarding strength in depth. The Gunners struggled to work the ball through the League One side in central areas and instead were forced into solely using the wide channels.
Mikel Arteta eventually became frustrated with the lack of directness in the group and made the decision to make changes to the Arsenal side early on in the second half. Albert Sambi Lokonga and Kieran Tierney were replaced by Granit Xhaka and Oleksandr Zinchenko – moments later, the Gunners took the lead and went on to win comfortably.
Lokonga endured a mostly out-of-touch performance in this game. Despite an early shot which should have led to a penalty were VAR in operation, the Belgian failed to progress the ball enough. In fact he made more backward passes (8) in the game compared to forward (7) passes.
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When Arsenal signed Lokonga from Anderlecht, he came with a reputation of being highly regarded by Vincent Kompany and Thierry Henry, two coaches he had worked with. His leadership earned him the captaincy at his club and his performances saw clubs like Arsenal and Napoli battle for his signature.
However, moving to Arsenal and competing with Xhaka and Thomas Partey meant being patient. He was good upon arrival and played plenty of games whilst both the starting pair were out at one time or another.
Yet upon the return of Xhaka for the 2-1 defeat to Everton in December 2021, Lokonga then found regular opportunities hard to come by. He was humbled in Partey’s absence toward the end of last season when Arteta decided to bring in Mohamed Elneny ahead of him.
There’s no doubt that his game feeds off confidence like so many other Arsenal players before him. The problem however is that Mikel Arteta has moved on plenty of these already and relies now on his team making their own luck and taking responsibility themselves to turn corners.
Simply look at Granit Xhaka ahead of him or Gabriel Martinelli in front. Both have gone through serious improvements individually.
Lokonga when given these chances needs to take them but ultimately a move in the summer might be the best option to achieve it. Minutes are going to be very difficult to get in north London between now and the end of the season.
Although the Gunners need to ensure depth for the remainder of this campaign, perhaps Lokonga could benefit from a Ligue 1 switch like William Saliba and Nuno Tavares before him. The best time for this would of course be in the summer.
Saliba has come back to Arsenal and found his way into the starting Xi week on week. Whereas Tavares is enjoying a decent season with Marseille and has scored five goals already, significantly boosting his profile ahead of a 2023 summer return.
Lokonga could get regular minutes, raise his own profile and then either earn his place back in the thoughts of Arteta or earn Arsenal an increased transfer fee after a good season. Lokonga has shown a willingness to stay at the Gunners but this might eventually no longer be an option for the midfielder.
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