It's been a bad fortnight for Arsenal. In the space of three games they have gone from favourites to qualify for next season's Champions League to having their top four ambitions appear nothing more than a pipe dream.
To make matters worse they have lost both Thomas Partey and Kieran Tierney most likely until the end of the campaign due to respective thigh and knee injuries. Right now they could do with a nice and easy game just to help build up confidence again. The Premier League fixture gods have had other ideas though.
The Gunners travel to Chelsea on Wednesday to kick off a run of fixtures that sees them play four of the top seven in the space of five matches. After being knocked out of the Champions League by Real Madrid at the quarter-final stage, Thomas Tuchel's side have the opportunity to focus all their attentions on this London derby, with their FA Cup final against Liverpool not coming up for another month.
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Arsenal's biggest problem right now is that they are struggling to score goals. From their last 73 shots, the Gunners have found the back of the net just twice. Speaking after Saturday's defeat to Southampton, Mikel Arteta admitted that his options to change things are limited.
"It’s what we have," the Spaniard told football.london. "The players that we have haven’t done it in this league. When you have world class players who have done it in the league for ten years, I would probably say that. I am the first one to defend them, to support them, you see how they try. The only way to do it is to insist and what happened today might happen the next day or the next month."
In fact, with Pablo Mari, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Sead Kolasinac, Calum Chambers and Folarin Balogun all having left the club in January with no one coming in the opposite direction, the number of changes Arteta can make from his squad is pretty limited full stop. Here though football.london takes a look at some of the things the Arsenal manager could do to switch things up ahead of the trip to Stamford Bridge.
Smith Rowe returns
The big selection dilemma for the Southampton game appeared to revolve around the left back position. Granit Xhaka had played in defence in the prior defeat to Brighton, but after that went disastrously, Arteta appeared to see sense by restoring the Swiss international to midfield and bringing Nuno Tavares back in to the line up.
What was lost in and among all that excitement though was the fact that Emile Smith Rowe had lost his place in the side. The England international started the season in fine form, but has struggled for fitness throughout much of the second half of the campaign. Despite this though he is still Arsenal's joint top scorer.
In a cameo appearance at St. Mary's the Hale Ender was in the right place to force one of Arsenal's best chances of the game and was only denied by a spectacular save by Fraser Forster. It is no secret that the Gunners need goals, and with this in mind finding a way to bring Smith Rowe back into the side could be at least a short term solution.
Martinelli up top
Another option Mikel Arteta has available to him is to change things through the middle. Gabriel Martinelli actually started on the right wing at St. Mary's, before switching back to the left flank where he has spent much of his recent time in the team, but many have argued the Brazilian could be at his best through the middle.
Eddie Nketiah was given the go ahead to start up top against Southampton, and despite pressing well, he never really looked likely to score. Alexandre Lacazette meanwhile has come out with some poorly timed comments over his future, and as he continues to recover from COVID-19, Arteta admitted there's a possibility he could miss out at Stamford Bridge. "It will depend on whether he’s negative, his symptoms are clear and whether he’s ready to play," the Spaniard said.
With this in mind why not give Martinelli a go through the middle? His back-to-goal play may not be as good as Lacazette or Nketiah, but given how easily teams have been able to defend against Arsenal recently, having someone with the ability to run in behind might not be the worst thing in the world. Up against Vinicius Jr. Chelsea's defence showed that they can struggle when tested with pace, and Martinelli could be the man to solve that problem.
Back three
Around this time last season Arsenal travelled to Chelsea with a similarly low level of confidence. The Gunners had just been knocked out of the Europa League by Unai Emery's Villarreal the week before, and with several attacking players lacking fitness Mikel Arteta opted to go for damaged limitations.
Arsenal went to Stamford Bridge and essentially pulled a Jose Mourinho by parking the bus with a 5-2-3 formation. Unlike previous experiments with five at the back, this set up featured three orthodox central defenders as the Gunners travelled across to west London with the primary aim of not being beaten. They waited for a Chelsea mistake and got it as Jorginho's misplaced back pass eventually enabled Emile Smith Rowe to turn in the winner.
With Rob Holding, master of the back three, able to come in to the heart of defence, and Ben White and Gabriel either side, this set up could work. Playing Nuno Tavares and Cedric as wingbacks may hide some of their defensive weaknesses too, while providing Arsenal with a decent platform to contain Chelsea. It wouldn't be pretty, but it could work.
Tomiyasu return
As well as losing Thomas Partey and Kieran Tierney, one key player who's been missing for Arsenal in recent months has been Takehiro Tomiyasu. The Japanese international was a rock at right back earlier this season, before back-to-back calf problems on separate legs caused him to miss four months of football.
The only positive to come out of the recent injury news for the Gunners is that Tomiyasu is due back in training this week. In a statement released after the defeat to Crystal Palace the club stated that: "It is hoped that Takehiro will be back in full training after the match at Southampton on Saturday, April 16."
Assuming that Tomiyasu is back in training this week, then there is a possibility that he could make the squad for Wednesday's trip to Chelsea. Given that rushing him back against Liverpool in January only served to aggravate his calf injury, this could be a risk, but with it being a case of win or bust in the race for the top four, it's one that could be worth taking for Arsenal.
