It’s shaping up to be another Premier League battle between the irresistible force of Manchester City’s attack and Arsenal’s immovable defence.
City scored more goals than anyone last season and Arsenal conceded fewest. From the opening two games, I’d say a repeat is more than likely.
Will it change the outcome of the title race? Not necessarily, but Mikel Arteta rightfully believes doubling down on what has worked for Arsenal so far is the best way to make up the two-point gap from May. While everyone has called for him to sign a traditional number nine, Arteta has signed an Italian defender, Riccardo Calafiori, and wants Spain midfielder Mikel Merino.
I can see why. The marginal gains Arsenal are looking for is to have a squad where they can replace quality with quality when fatigue sets in. What cost them last year? The spell at Christmas when the fixtures piled up and they lost consecutive games to West Ham and Fulham.
It’s unfair and unrealistic to expect William Saliba and Gabriel to be fit and fully at it every single week. Calafiore can give them a breather. Likewise, Merino’s arrival would mean Martin Odegaard, Thomas Partey or Declan Rice can be rotated without standards being dropped.
Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal have the best defence in the league and have added depth in key areas
It is unfair to expect the likes of William Saliba (centre) and Gabriel (right) to be fit every game, but the likes of Riccardo Calafiori (left) have been added to the squad
Manchester City, who have the best attack in the league, could yet beat them to the title
Arteta will have learned that from being at City with Pep Guardiola, who could compensate if Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva and Ilkay Gundogan were unavailable because of strength in depth.
Adding competition to ease the workload of his players is more advisable for Arteta than ripping up the gameplan. His central forwards Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus aren’t Golden Boot contenders but they are completely engaged in the team philosophy.
Havertz isn’t obsessed with the number of goals he scores. He’ll get double figures no problem but his understanding of his role in the team structure is more important. Why would you bring in somebody else who would spoil that?
Arteta’s way is to have six or seven players in the side who can score at least 10 goals rather than one player who hits 30.
City before Erling Haaland won lots of trophies with a variety of scoring options. It’s Arsenal’s best chance this season.
Merino will help in midfield with Jorginho not at his peak. In bigger games, he could even play ahead of Rice, allowing the England player to drop deeper because he’s better defensively than Partey.
You saw Partey’s vulnerability against Morgan Rogers at Villa Park when Arsenal got a bit lucky with Ollie Watkins’ misses.
I’ve watched Arsenal closely over the last two years. They are beautifully set up defensively and clearly do a lot of work on the training ground on their patterns of play.
Arsenal are closing in on a deal to sign Mikel Merino, which would strengthen their midfield
Kai Havertz (right) won’t be a Golden Boot contender, but he knows what to do for the team
If Ben White moves up from right back, Saka comes inside like clockwork to create the space and Odegaard drifts over to make these great combinations. Jurrien Timber showed his attributes against Villa. Injured last season, he can move into midfield like Oleksandr Zinchenko but as a left back is quicker and defensively better than the Ukrainian.
If there was one criticism of their play, I would like to have seen the percentage diagonal ball to utilise Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli’s pace a bit more. Villa’s high line was crying out for it.
But two clean sheets in two matches shows what Arteta’s Arsenal are about. Toppling City is a huge ask but they look better prepared to avoid burnout than in the last two seasons.
