Arsenal can forget Merino & Trossard by unleashing "unplayable" star at CF
da poker： It may be a tired cliché, but it’s true: this season has been a real roller coaster for Arsenal.
da fazobetai： Everything started well enough, with some positive results in challenging games, but it all seemed to go wrong following Declan Rice’s red card against Brighton & Hove Albion.
The team started getting more silly suspensions, injuries began piling up, and it felt like every other result was a draw.
However, while Mikel Arteta’s side struggled domestically, they thrived in Europe, and now just two games stand between them and the Champions League final.
Two of the players who have endured a topsy-turvey season of their own have been Mikel Merino and Leandro Trossard, and to ensure the latter is available for the Paris Saint Germain game next week, Arteta should take him out of the team for tonight’s clash.
Merino & Trossard's season so far
It was a cosmically unlucky start to the season for Merino, as, following a summer-long transfer saga, he fractured his shoulder in his first training session as an Arsenal player, which saw him miss the first couple of months of the campaign.
When he did return, it was clear that he was rusty, and while the match-going fans didn’t get on his back, there was a palpable sense in the fanbase that maybe signing him had been a mistake.
However, when Kai Havertz was ruled out following surgery on his hamstring in February, the Spaniard was suddenly tasked with leading the line, and even though he’d never played up top in his career, he looked right at home, scoring two goals away to Leicester City after coming off the bench.
Over the next couple of months, he further added to his tally with goals against PSV Eindhoven, Chelsea and Fulham while also providing two assists in the Bernabeu and another at Portman Road at the weekend, when he was moved back into the midfield to prepare for Thomas Partey’s absence against PSG.
In his place, the manager started Trossard, who, after a lacklustre first half of the campaign, has begun to show signs of the old clinical attacker who’s been a serious asset to the club since his arrival from Brighton & Hove Albion in January 2023.
For example, he scored away at PSV and away at Everton and then picked up a brilliantly taken brace against Ipswich Town on the weekend, which displayed his excellent ability to fire off shots in tight, congested penalty areas.
It was the sort of performance that will almost certainly see him start the first leg of the Champions League semi-final next week, which is why he shouldn’t start tonight.
However, as Merino needs to further bed into the left-eight role ahead of that game, he shouldn’t be the one to replace the Belgian either.
The Arsenal star who should start in place of Trossard
So, with the injury situation still far from ideal and Raheem Sterling simply not in contention at this point, the most logical player to start in place of Trossard tonight would be Ethan Nwaneri.
Now, we know that might sound a little too far, but Arteta has already spoken in the past about how he sees the teenager being able to play there and then in an interview with the Standard’s Simon Collings following the win over Ipswich, the Hale Ender claimed that he can play as a striker.
Moreover, if this season has told us anything about the “unplayable” phenomenon, as dubbed by Jack Wilshere, it’s that he knows where the goal is.
Nwaneri’s 24/25
Appearances
33
Minutes
1294′
Goals
9
Assists
2
Goal Involvements per Match
0.33
Minutes per Goal Involvement
117.63′
All Stats via Transfermarkt
For example, in just 33 appearances, totalling 1294 minutes, the Enfield-born dynamo has scored nine goals and provided two assists, which comes out to a really impressive average of a goal involvement every three games, or every 117.63 minutes.
Finally, the teenage sensation has also shown over and over again that he is simply unfazed by everything, and while other players his age might well find it too daunting to lead the line for a club like Arsenal, we imagine he’ll just take it in his stride, as he has with everything else asked of him.
Ultimately, Trossard is too important to be risked in a relatively meaningless game like tonight, and with Merino needing more time to get used to the left-eight role ahead of PSG next week, it feels like the perfect time to start Nwaneri up top.
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