LONDON — Winning a Premier League title requires being bold and taking calculated risks at the right time. There’s always the chance that a well-intentioned gamble could backfire, but manager Mikel Arteta’s roll of the dice paid off as Arsenal regained top spot with a 2-0 win over Luton Town.
Martin Odegaard scored in the 24th minute, followed by Daiki Hashioka An own goal a minute before half-time secured Arsenal a comfortable victory against Rob Edwards’s relegation-threatened side. But after making significant changes to his starting XI to rest key players, Arteta had his team’s title ambitions on the line.
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Sunday’s 0-0 draw with reigning champions Manchester City at the Etihad underlined Arsenal’s status as title challengers and provided decisive momentum in a three-team race that also includes Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool. Gave.
But with nine league games remaining before kick-off and the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals against Bayern Munich next week, the excitement about Arteta’s team and the memories of last season’s poor performance will only increase. . The Gunners have ended their title hopes by winning just three of their last nine games, but are yet to win at the Emirates.
So Arteta opted to press the reset button and refresh his squad. Declan Rice, Gabriel Jesus, Gabriel Martinelli and Jakub Kiviol All started from the substitute bench, but Bukayo Saka Absent due to injury. thomas party He was appointed as a starter in the Premier League for the first time since August, but Emile Smith Rowe This will be the second league game start since October, Reese Nelson He was included in the starting lineup for a league game for the first time in four years. Leandro Trossard and Oleksandr Zinchenko He was also given an unusual start.
The decision to rest Rice, who had featured in every one of Arsenal’s league games prior to this game, was a particular risk given his importance to the team since his £105 million move from West Ham. But with Luton fighting for survival and without a win since the end of January, Arteta decided this was a match he had to take a gamble on.
“We were able to rotate the squad and refresh it a bit,” Arteta said. “The players that came in worked really, really hard. They made a difference. To make the team, they have to play. We have to make those decisions. Their team. His contribution was very good, but now we’ve recovered and we’ll move on because we’re away at Brighton. ”
Arteta’s decision to shuffle the pack is understandable given Arsenal’s immediate fixture list. Saturday’s difficult trip to Brighton will be followed by two games against Bayern, with a home game against fourth-placed Aston Villa sandwiched between a double-header against the German champions.
This will be followed by three games in eight days, against Wolves (A), Chelsea (H) and an away North London derby against Tottenham. If Arsenal defeat Bayern and advance to the Champions League semi-finals, they will face either City or Real Madrid in the first leg of the semi-final, three days after their match against Spurs.
Therefore, from this moment on, Arsenal will have little time to play in the match. It’s going to be one big game after another. But while Arteta’s makeshift team was good enough to beat Luton, it is debatable whether the same line-up would be able to defeat a stronger opponent.
Partey is still far from match fitness after an injury-hit season and the former Atletico Madrid midfielder will struggle to return to his best form by the end of the season. And neither Smith Rowe nor Nelson are good enough to be considered game-changers in the biggest games.The same goes for substitutes. Eddie Nketiah and Takehiro Tomiyasu.
Arsenal’s Achilles heel has been their depth, which perhaps explains why Arteta has resisted the temptation to rotate players throughout this season.
rice, martinelli, GabrielOdegaard, Saka; Kai Havertz, William Saliba and ben white All of them have played at least 25 league games this season, but with the demands of the Premier League on top of the demands of the Champions League, they all need to take a breather at some point. Most of them were given a break against Luton and it paid off. They will benefit both physically and mentally.
However, with so many important games around the corner, we cannot expect Arteta to rest his key players again.