Not Gyokeres: Arteta must axe Arsenal’s “signing of the summer” vs Man City
da doce： By the time night falls next Sunday, we will all have a much clearer idea as to whether or not Arsenal are truly capable of dethroning Liverpool as Premier League champions.
da brdice： In a week’s time, the Gunners will face Newcastle on Tyneside, having lost four of their five visits to St James’ Park since the Saudi takeover, failing to score in all of these defeats.
Before then, in this Sunday’s headline slot, Mikel Arteta’s team will welcome Manchester City to North London, seeking a third successive home win over the Sky Blues for the first time in 16 years.
If the Gunners are going to prevail, Arteta must ruthlessly leave out Arsenal’s “signing of the summer”, and it’s not who you might expect.
Viktor Gyökeres' start to life at Arsenal
Five matches into Viktor Gyökeres’ Arsenal career, it’s been a bit of a mixed bag.
He has certainly felt at home at the Emirates, scoring twice when the Gunners demolished Leeds 5-0 last month, before getting on the end of an inch-perfect Eberechi Eze cut-back to double their advantage against Nottingham Forest last weekend.
Thus, should the Swedish international get on the scoresheet against Man City, he would become only the second Arsenal player to find the net in each of his first three Premier League appearances at the Emirates, after Alexandre Lacazette, who found the target against Leicester, Bournemouth and West Brom back in 2017.
However, away from home, Gyökeres has been less impactful.
At both Old Trafford and Anfield, he’s been little more than a peripheral figure, and it was a similar story at San Mamés on Tuesday, registering just 19 touches of the ball, the fewest of any Arsenal starter, missing two Opta-defined big chances.
Nevertheless, with Kai Havertz sidelined, Gyökeres will be the man leading the line this weekend, but Arteta certainly has decisions to make in other areas of the field, one in particular will be tough.
Arsenal's signing of the summer
Given that Arsenal made eight signings this summer, bringing in Gyökeres, Eze, Martín Zubimendi, Noni Madueke and others to plenty of hype, the arrival of Cristhian Mosquera very much went under the radar, but could he prove to be the best signing of the lot?
After William Saliba hobbled off inside two minutes, Mosquera was thrown in at the deep end against Liverpool at Anfield, but looked confident and assured throughout, winning four out of five ground duels, completing 92% of his 51 passes.
Making his home debut against Nottingham Forest last weekend, he was excellent again, with Andrew Mangan, speaking on the Arsecast Extra, stating that if Arteta had simply asked him to do an impression of Saliba, he could’ve found no fault in his performance.
With Saliba not risked in Bilbao on Tuesday, remaining an unused substitute, Mosquera starred again, as documented below.
Mosquera vs Athletic
Stat
Mosquera
Match rank
Defensive actions
7
5th
Clearances
6
3rd
Completed passes
75
1st
Passing accuracy
95%
1st
Duels contested
13
3rd
Aerial duels contested
8
1st
Aerial duels won
5
1st
Touches
93
1st
Sofascore rating
7.3
4th
via Sofascore
As the table notes, Mosquera was exceptional in the Basque Country this week, ranked first for passing and aerial duel metrics, contesting the most duels of any Arsenal player, behind only Athletic duo Álex Berenguer and Mikel Jauregizar, which will certainly have pleased Arteta.
Having joined from crisis club Valencia, in a move reminiscent of Santi Cazorla’s arrival from cash-strapped Málaga back in 2012, one content creator has asserted that he will prove to be the Gunners’ “signing of the summer”, considering he cost just £13m.
However, should the Spanish Olympic gold medalist be back on the substitutes’ bench come 4:30pm (BST) on Sunday?
As already mentioned, Saliba is available again following injury, with Arteta stating in his pre-match press conference on Friday that “he’s done really well to be available… we will decide tomorrow who is the best to start”.
As good as Mosquera looks, Saliba has been one of the best, if not the best, centre-backs in the world in recent seasons so, if he’s fit and ready to go, he simply has to start such a crucial game.
Alongside partner Gabriel, the pair have really relished recent battles with Erling Braut Håland, a key reason why the Gunners are unbeaten in five meetings with Manchester City, having lost 15 of the previous 16 encounters beforehand.
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So, while Mosquera would much rather start on Sunday than at Port Vale in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday, a rather less glamorous fixture, his time will come, and not starting a fully fit Saliba would be frankly crazy.