Arsenal stay high of the Premier League desk for one more week.
On Saturday night, in a sport that was removed from thrill a minute stuff, Mikel Arteta’s crew battled to a 1-0 victory at Craven Cottage in opposition to Fulham; Gabriel’s flick-on from a nook bundled over the road by Leandro Trossard’s thigh.
Cue the acquainted tune: set piece once more, olé olé!
That makes it 5 wins on the spin throughout all competitions for the Gunners whereas, in a second successive Premier League match, their opponents did not register a single shot on course, the primary time Arsenal have achieved this since doing so in opposition to Birmingham and, coincidentally, Fulham throughout the Invincibles season of 2003/04.
Whereas man of the match Bukayo Saka and match-winner Trossard, extra on him in only a second, will get the headlines, one other of Arteta’s most-trusted disciples additionally underlined his significance to this crew in West London.
Arsenal’s star man in opposition to Fulham
With Eberechi Eze deployed centrally to fill Martin Ødegaard’s void, the largest crew choice headache dealing with Arteta on Saturday was who to deploy on the left wing.
Each choices had been on course throughout the worldwide break; Trossard netted for Belgium in Cardiff, whereas Martinelli scored for Brazil in Tokyo, however Arteta will definitely really feel vindicated in his resolution.
Having scored in its place in opposition to Athletic Membership and Port Vale final month, Trossard has began every of the final 5 Premier League and Champions League fixtures, forcing over the road his first league aim of the marketing campaign on the weekend, and what an essential one it may show to be.
This, although, is nothing new, with the Belgian taking his tally to 31 targets and 25 assists for the Gunners, averaging a aim contribution each 130 minutes.
In reality, since his debut in January 2023, solely Saka (42 targets) has scored extra occasions for Arsenal than Trossard, simply forward of Kai Havertz and Martinelli, each on 29 targets.
So, whereas Trossard will rightly get loads of plaudits, which different Arsenal participant deserves to be spotlighted for his or her eye-catching efficiency at Craven Cottage?
Mikel Arteta’s new favorite chaos service provider
The emergence of Myles Lewis-Skelly was one of many key storylines of final season.
Within the house of solely 5 months, {the teenager} went from taking part in within the EFL trophy in entrance of two,400 individuals to beginning Champions League quarter-finals and semi-finals in opposition to Actual Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain.
This season although, the England worldwide is but to start out a Premier League match, by no fault of his personal, it needs to be reiterated, purely as a result of Arteta is enamoured with what Riccardo Calafiori affords.
The Italy worldwide collected simply 1,497 minutes throughout his first season in North London, beginning solely 16 matches throughout all competitions, however has began all eight Premier League fixtures up to now this time spherical, thus far managing to stay injury-free.
His efficiency at Fulham on Saturday night was Calafiori at his chaotic greatest.
Calafiori vs Fulham | ||
|---|---|---|
Stats | Calafiori | Match rank |
Anticipated targets | 0.04 | ninth |
Photographs astray | 1 | third |
Defensive actions | 5 | sixth |
Clearances | 4 | 4th |
Correct passes | 27 | ninth |
Move completion % | 87% | ninth* |
Duels contested | 9 | sixth |
Aerial duels contested | 5 | 4th |
Touches | 50 | ninth |
Common ranking | 6.8 | eleventh |
*minimal 16 passes accomplished. | ||
Stats by way of SofaScore | ||
Because the desk outlines, whereas Calafiori’s statistics do not stand out for anyone metric specifically, he ranks extremely for all kinds of numbers, underlining that he’s contributing all around the pitch.
Early within the first half, the £42m Italian thought he had damaged the impasse, just for his thunderous volley to be disallowed resulting from offside, one which journalist Charles Watts posits could also be among the finest disallowed targets in fashionable Arsenal historical past.
Now that you just’re fascinated by it, Pépé vs Chelsea within the FA Cup Ultimate, Trossard at Leicester and Gabriel in opposition to Bournemouth are the opposite main contenders.
Again to Calafiori, he continues to impress, with Andrew Mangan of Arseblog labelling him ‘defensively very strong once more’ whereas, paradoxically, James Benge of CBS asserts that he’s “probably the most electrifying man in sports activities leisure”.
To help this, amazingly, the left-back has tried 16 photographs within the Premier League this season, scoring at Previous Trafford on the opening day after all, the second-most of any Arsenal participant, behind solely centre-forward Viktor Gyökeres.
It is for that cause that he has, undoubtedly, been simply as essential as star man Saka of late.
Certainly, the actual fact the defender is ready to mix being a wonderful defensive presence with being a chaotic on-ball contributor, one thing this Arsenal crew typically lacks, particularly when arising in opposition to a low block, is completely invaluable.
Saturday noticed Arteta’s crew hold their eighth clear sheet in simply 11 matches throughout all competitions this season, staggering numbers that might not be doable if one quartet of their again 4 was in any method a defensive legal responsibility.
William Saliba and Gabriel rightly get loads of plaudits, whereas Jurriën Timber’s distinctive performances this season have earned loads of reward too, however Calafiori’s contribution shouldn’t be neglected, provided that he affords this crew a lot, actually all around the pitch.
