Matheus Cunha links make sense
It’s obviously early days for Arsenal in terms of how they will proceed without the injured Bukayo Saka.
They got off to a winning start without that talismanic winger, albeit in fairly unconvincing fashion, beating Ipswich 1-0 at the Emirates. However, you would suspect that the two very difficult away games at Brentford and Brighton will give us a clearer indication of how they will cope without the England international.
Whatever happens, I really feel like they need to do everything they can in the January transfer window to strengthen what now seems to be a pretty threadbare attack.
Yes, January is notoriously difficult to do good business, but it’s not impossible and I hope Arsenal have worked very hard behind the scenes to identify a few opportunities that could give them the boost they need.
I’m not necessarily talking about a big move in January. Such moves may have to wait until summer. But there is certainly scope for the club to do something to fill the void that Saka’s absence will leave.
Arsenal interest in PL star CONFIRMED
Arsenal are always hesitant to do business in January and the message that emerged in that window through conversations I’ve had was always that the club would be reactive rather than proactive in the market.
That’s understandable, but it seems like something they need to respond to. Losing Saka for about ten weeks is a hammer blow. It’s that simple.
I don’t think anyone coming in has to be a like-for-like replacement. They simply need another option who can play up front and contribute goals and assists.
I’m a big fan of Matheus Cunha and Arsenal’s interest in him makes perfect sense. However, I understand that it would be very difficult to lure him away from Wolves in the middle of the season when they are battling relegation.
The loan of Arda Güler from Real Madrid would also be an interesting short-term move. We’ve seen Arsenal have some success with such a deal in the past. Think of Martin Odegaard, for example.
Guler is young but he has shown he can perform on the biggest stage and has the talent to make a difference in the final third.
So there could be options for Arsenal, it’s up to them to go there and find them.
I thought Gabriel Martinelli played well against Ipswich on the right. There were some good moments and I think it would be unfair to write him off as an option on this side after just one start.
He will need some time to get used to this role and his teammates will need some time to get used to someone other than Saka taking these positions.
Without Saka, Arsenal will be different. Mikel Arteta has already said this. You can’t just keep playing while someone else plays their role and expect things to be exactly the same.
Martinelli had some good moments against Ipswich. He hit a few good crosses, including one that contributed to the goal.
I want him to do more of that. He simply moves the ball to his right foot and gets it into the danger area before the defense is set up. The fact that he can do that, rather than cutting inside with his stronger foot like he does on the left, should be an advantage for Arsenal.
However, he clearly needs to work on being a bigger threat himself. He didn’t have a chance against Ipswich and that’s not good enough. He needs to be a threat like Saka always is.
While we wait for the window to open, I still think Martinelli is Arsenal’s best option on the right. Ethan Nwaneri is a different and more of an equal replacement considering how he plays and how he likes to cut inside to the left side.
It would be nice if he got a chance there at some point, but I think you have to stick with Martinelli for now and give him the chance to get used to this role himself.
It’s difficult to look at Liverpool at the moment and see them making mistakes.
There is still a long way to go and no one knows better than Arsenal how difficult it is to maintain such impressive pace throughout the season.
But they just look so strong and are obviously playing with so much confidence at the moment. It is very difficult to see where the persistent slip-ups are coming from.
In Mo Salah they have the best player in the world at the moment and he is proving the difference week after week.
The numbers he puts out are incredible and when players like Cody Gakpo, Luiz Diaz and Jota have his back, it’s just an embarrassment of riches for Arne Slot.
Perhaps the contract issues with Salah, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Virgil van Dijk will have a negative impact on Liverpool, but at the moment it feels a bit like rival teams are grasping at straws.
Just look at the game against West Ham. Previously everyone was talking about Trent and the rumors that he had already told Liverpool that he was moving to Madrid.
Did that cause a distraction? No, he played, played well, Liverpool scored five goals and he scored one of them himself.
So I don’t see much difference in it. If Arsenal or anyone else wants to recapture Liverpool, they need to do things right themselves and not rely on some sort of team implosion at Anfield.
What went wrong at Tottenham? I mean, this is a question that someone could study for years without finding a suitable answer.
To be honest, I’m not sure much has actually gone wrong for them this season. They are simply Tottenham. That’s what they do.
I mean, is anyone really surprised by his struggles this season? I can’t imagine that they are.
They have some good players, they play good football and on their day they can beat anyone. To me they just look like a cup team under Ange Postecoglou.
It could finally win them a trophy. After all, they’re in the semi-finals of the League Cup and you’d think they should go far in the Europa League, but I can’t see them competing for the league unless Postecoglou changes his approach a bit.
They are simply too open and can be separated far too easily.
They’ve had a lot of injuries this season and that has to be taken into account, but it’s not like they’re waterproof if Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven are fit, right? They still concede far too many goals.
It will be interesting to see if Daniel Levy stays at Postecoglou. You just never know what he’s going to do.
I suppose when people ask what’s going on with Spurs, Levy has to come into the conversation.
How many managers did he hire that failed? The only real success story was Mauricio Pochettino, and Levy kicked him out shortly after he led the club to the Champions League final because he felt he could be better.
That didn’t work out so well, did it?
