Mikel Arteta's conservative starting XI held them back until Saka turned the game on its head against Southampton
Mikel Arteta's conservative starting XI held them back until Saka turned the game on its head against Southamptonhave just enjoyed that over a spell of seven days, three games and nine goals scored, there can still be question marks raised over their creativity.
Arsenal needed it too, with the decision to start Thomas Partey at right-back leaving a central partnership of Jorginho and Declan Rice restricted. If not ultra-conservative, it felt unnecessary against a winless Southampton, and in order to facilitate Gabriel Jesus, Kai Havertz was then also forced deeper.For a brief moment, as Cameron Archer latched onto a ball over the top, beat William Saliba and then David Raya, it might have been fatal. It wasn’t.
And when substitute Leandro Trossard raced through to set up Saka for the third, it was a run full of the energy Arsenal had been missing for the previous half an hour. The defining moment was not one of the goals, but the double substitution that transformed the tone around the hour mark. Jesus and Jorginho off, Trossard and Mikel Merino on. Arsenal desperately needed a goal, but it was one at the other end, and the substitutions that came shortly afterwards, that helped them come alive.Arteta was chastised for his initial starting XI, but deserves praise for turning it on its head.
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