Arsenal long for the day when injuries do not plague this side’s start to a Premier League season. Or the middle, or the end… in fact, a reference to time is effectively meaningless when covering this topic.
Yet again, Arsenal look to be facing the same fate. Rumours circulated in the past day that both Ben White and Oleksandr Zinchenko are doubts for the game against Brentford with the Ukrainian almost certainly unavailable.
Mikel Arteta has already had to adapt his side this season to the former Manchester City man’s absence, but White’s potential nonattendance adds another dimension. football.london takes a look at the three options to cope with their new squad issues.
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Takehiro Tomiyasu and Kieran Tierney
The most probable reaction from Arteta will be to start his two natural replacements for Zinchenko and White. The England international replaced Takehiro Tomiyasu at the start of the season and has continued to keep him on the bench.
Meanwhile, Zinchenko’s arrival forced Kieran Tierney to make do with substitute appearances. The Scot has been adapting to the style of play that Arteta wants from his left-back. Although it might take significantly more time to fully transition.
The back three
Another choice is to move to a back three. Rob Holding or Tomiyasu could join William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes in the back three. Then Bukayo Saka and Tierney could be the wing-backs providing width to the side.
The problem with this is always which player from the midfield or forward line is sacrificed for this switch. Although with Saka occupying the wing-back role a player like Martin Odegaard does not necessarily need to make way.
The inverted option
Lastly is the most unorthodox option on paper. Last season Tomiyasu showed his versatility in a left-back position. The Japanese international suits opposing an inverted wide left player which Bryan Mbeumo is.
The right-back then could instead be William Saliba who operated in the role on a few occasions for Marseille with Rob Holding coming into the right centre-half slot. Tomiyasu, Holding, Saliba and Gabriel give Arsenal additional aerial presence to deal with the threat of Ivan Toney.
AlthougBh, it should be said this is probably the least progressive back four unit with Holding’s introduction. Furthermore, this leaves Tierney out which with no Zinchenko would be a real surprise unless he too has a fitness problem.
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