Morning all.
The games keep coming and it’s a trip to Wolves this afternoon. In terms of team news, Mikel Arteta was positive about Myles Lewis-Skelly and William Saliba, but we’ll have to wait and see if today is just a bit too soon for them. If so, it wouldn’t surprise me to see the same back four as Wednesday night, Jakub Kiwior continuing alongside Gabriel, with Oleksandr Zinchenko at left-back.
He does have Riccardo Calafiori available to him, but he sounded very cautious about him despite the fact he was in the squad for the Dinamo Zagreb clash. Perhaps some second half minutes to replace a player who very rarely does the full 90 might be on the cards. I have a suspicion we might see Mikel Merino in midfield after he sat out the Champions League game, and further forward the fact Leandro Trossard was rested in midweek suggest he’ll start this one on the left, with Gabriel Martinelli the other side of Kai Havertz.
There still won’t be much on the bench from an attacking perspective, but we do have Ethan Nwaneri to call upon again, which is a boost and more exciting than the prospect of Raheem Sterling. You could see last weekend that Arteta only used him against Villa because he had do something, not because he really believed in his ability to make an impact, and those lack of options have been something he’s been upfront about of late – particularly since the injury to Gabriel Jesus.
Which is probably why he bristled a little in his press conference yesterday when it was put him to him he didn’t think it was ‘essential’ that Arsenal make an attacking signing during this window. You can see his reaction and interaction here (from about 40′), but he made it very clear he wants to bring someone in, saying:
My opinion is clear, we lost two very, very important players, Bukayo Saka and Gabi Jesus. So we lack goals, we lack people, we lack options in the front line, it is clear. If we can get the right player, that is what we are actively looking at. Any player? No. Someone that makes us better and has an impact on the team.
It is clear that for the period that we have lost them, ideally, we need some help because we are very short already and we are even shorter. But the team still copes with that. But we have to do what is right for the club.
The question/debate about who that is, how much they might cost, how much we should pay, and how far we should go, is certainly an ongoing one. You can listen to me and Lewis try and unpack it a bit on the Patreon preview podcast, but what’s 100% clear to me is that the manager wants reinforcement, so let’s see what happens. There’s nothing new in the squad for today though, so as he says, the team has to cope.
As for today’s opposition, they’re in a relegation battle, and things don’t seem to be healthy on or off the pitch at Molineux. The new manager has already been involved in at least two public spats with senior players (including Matheus Cunha who is in the Arsenal discussion right now), and they’ve lost three in a row. Still, they have some dangerous players in their side, with decent quality up front that can hurt any side.
Defensively though, they’ve been suspect all season, and no side has conceded more goals so far in the Premier League … even Southampton. That’s obviously an area Arsenal will look to exploit today, but Wolves are likely to play with a back five and I can’t see them going gung-ho from the off, so it might be one of those games where our main job is to break down a packed defence. I can see us making chances, but we have to make sure we take them – being clinical will be key, and open the game up.
Fingers crossed for three points.
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Meanwhile, there is a little bit of transfer news with James reporting for The Athletic (£) that Arsenal are working on a deal to sign 18 year old Norwegian midfielder Sverre Nypan. It appears to be somewhat complicated by virtue of the fact he also travelled from London to Manchester yesterday, with Man City also sniffing around. I guess it will come down to how convincing Mikel Arteta was (we know that’s certainly a strength of his), and whether Nypan is an Odegaard guy or a Haaland guy.
Too simplistic, I know, but reading between the lines, it seems like Arsenal would integrate him into the first team straight away, whereas the City story suggests a loan to one of their feeder clubs – Girona. Will that make a difference? I guess we’ll find out soon enough.
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Right, I’ll leave it there for now. As ever you can join us for live blog coverage, plus all the post-game stuff on Arseblog News.
Come on you reds!
