To win a Premier League championship, you have to be brave and take calculated chances when necessary. A well-meaning bet might always go wrong, but manager Mikel Arteta was rewarded for taking a risk when Arsenal defeated Luton Town 2-0 to recover top position.
Daiki Hashioka’s own goal one minute before halftime and Martin Odegaard’s goal in the 24th minute secured an easy win for Arsenal against Rob Edwards’s relegation-threatened squad. However, Arteta was risking his team’s chances of winning the championship after drastically altering his starting lineup to rest important players.
Arsenal proved they are a real contender for the championship after their 0-0 draw with Manchester City on Sunday at the Etihad Stadium. This result also provided Arsenal vital momentum in a three-team battle that also included Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool.
The pressure will only mount on Arteta’s team with nine league games left before kickoff and the first leg of a two-leg Champions League quarterfinal against Bayern Munich coming up next week. Recollections of the Gunners’ disappointing run last season, when they won just three of their final nine games to end their hopes of winning the title, are still fresh in their minds at the Emirates.
Arteta made the decision to restart his team by pressing the reset button. Bukayo Saka was injured and missed the game; Declan Rice, Gabriel Jesus, Gabriel Martinelli, and Jakub Kiwior all began on the substitutes’ bench. Emile Smith Rowe made his first league start since October, Thomas Partey made his first since August, and Reiss Nelson was selected to the starting lineup for the first time in four years. Oleksandr Zinchenko and Leandro Trossard had uncommon starts as well.
Given Rice’s importance to the team since his £105 million transfer from West Ham, Arteta felt that this was the game to take a chance with his selection. Rice had appeared in all of Arsenal’s league games before this one, so it was a risky move to rest him. However, with Luton fighting for survival and without a victory since the end of January, Arteta decided that this was the game.
“We managed to rotate and freshen the team up a bit,” Arteta said. “Those who attended performed really well. They had an impact. They have to play for us to have a squad, and we have to decide what to play. Although they made a very excellent contribution to the squad, we must now regroup and go on since Brighton is away.”
Arteta’s choice to rearrange his pack makes sense when you look at Arsenal’s current schedule. The two matches against Bayern are arranged as a challenging journey to Brighton on Saturday and a home match against fourth-place Aston Villa to be played in between the two matches against the German champions.
Next up are three matches in eight days, against Wolves (A), Chelsea (H), and Tottenham on the road in a North London derby. And three days after their match against Spurs, Arsenal will play either Real Madrid or City in the first leg of the Champions League semifinals if they defeat Bayern to advance.
Arsenal will thus have little time to catch their breath from now on. One big game will follow another. Although Arteta’s improvised team was powerful enough to defeat Luton, it is questionable whether the same combination could defeat more formidable opponents.
After such an injury-plagued season, Partey is still a ways off from match fitness, and it will be difficult for the former Atletico Madrid midfielder to get to full strength before the season ends. Furthermore, Nelson and Smith Rowe are not talented enough to be regarded as game-changers in the biggest games. Takehiro Tomiyasu and Eddie Nketiah, the replacements, are comparable.
Arsenal’s weakness is its depth in the roster, which may help to explain why Arteta has resisted the need to switch up his players this year.
This season, Rice, Martinelli, Gabriel, Odegaard, Saka, Kai Havertz, William Saliba, and Ben White have all made more than 25 league appearances; however, they will eventually need to take a break since the Champions League has additional criteria on top of the Premier League. Most of those who received a break against Luton were rewarded. They will have psychological and physical benefits.
But don’t expect Arteta to rest his important players anytime soon because he has so many important games coming up.
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Arsenal has a rare opportunity to rest important players before the end.
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