Tighten up at the back
Arsenal’s defensive problems in the absence of William Saliba are little secret. They have conceded 2.17 goals a game without the centre-back; with him, that figure reads 0.93. Arguably they have missed Takehiro Tomiyasu in equal measure: he has been injured since mid-March, like Saliba, and could have slotted in at centre-back, taken on bespoke defensive tasks at left-back or, perhaps most attractively, been fielded at right-back to allow Ben White a move inside.
