Arsenal's midfield solutions for the North London Derby

Plus a #Barclaysmen Best XI, what analytics have brought to football, and games to watch this weekend

Author

Kim McCauley
September 13, 2024 • Estimated Reading Time: 10 minutes

Hello friends, and welcome back to proper club football. I love the big international tournaments, but in-season international breaks are such a drag. We’ve got a banger to return with this weekend — the North London Derby, where there’s going to be a really interesting midfield matchup.

We’ll get into that quickly, but first, we’ve got some things new and classic to share with you.

First, the new: Our premium betting newsletter is now live. On Fridays, Ted will share his personal bets and weekly market-implied model numbers for the Premier League and Championship, so you can make better informed betting decisions for yourself.

Second, the classic: We wrapped up our transfer grades series on Thursday. If you missed any of them or you’re looking for a certain team to send to a friend, here’s where to find all of those pieces.

Premier League

Continental Europe

This Friday newsletter is going to regularly be a bit of a grab bag. We’ll still have an analysis piece about a player, team or game up top, but also some other quick bites on matches we’re watching this weekend or stuff that’s in the news. —KM

Who’s playing in midfield for Arsenal?

The Gunners suffered a bit of a blow during the international break, with Martin Ødegaard turning his ankle on Norway duty. Thankfully it doesn’t appear to be a serious injury, but it probably will keep him out against Tottenham Hotspur.

Declan Rice is also unavailable due to suspension after a very questionable second yellow card, while Mikel Merino is out with a shoulder injury. This means Mikel Arteta is without what will likely be his entire first choice midfield a month from now, and he’s got a lot of different options for how to set up.

All these factors make this tweet from Michael Caley (and link to a good story by Michael Cox) very funny to me.

Havertz will likely continue to make a huge impact for Arsenal as a first choice center forward this season… starting next week. As for this week, get ready to learn central midfield, buddy.

Thomas Partey will take up another spot in the center as he has throughout the start of this campaign, but I’m really interested to see what Arteta decides to do with his other midfield spot, and the shape of his team. The most obvious thing to do is bring in Jorginho and go to a double pivot that allows Havertz to play as a true 10. But I wouldn’t entirely discount the possibility of 17-year-old Ethan Nwaneri entering the lineup.

It seems like a huge risk to hand an inexperienced teenager their first minutes of consequence in a North London Derby, but the reason Arteta might opt for that is to get some speed and the ability to carry the ball forward onto the pitch. Partey and Jorginho is a Certified Molasses™ midfield partnership, and Tottenham have, if nothing else, some dudes who run fast.

On the other hand, Jorginho is a bit of a progressive passes monster, averaging 10 of them per 90 minutes over his Arsenal career. Tottenham have looked extremely vulnerable in defensive transition this season, and could be undone by some high quality early long passes. Playing with two defensive midfielders, sitting deeper than usual, and letting Spurs have a bit of the ball might be an excellent recipe for success. Even if it’s not the way Arsenal usually look to play, these are some unusual circumstances.

The midfield personnel and shape that Arsenal select could be the most decisive tactical component to this game.

Games we’re watching

As usual, we recommend checking out LiveSoccerTV for times, TV and streaming for your region.

  • Borussia Dortmund vs. Heidenheim: The best of the Friday games, though I’ll watch literally anything the Friday after an international break. Two relegation fodder teams facing off in Ligue 1? Gimme da garbage. Anyway, I’m looking forward to seeing if Max Beier can start firing in yellow, and if Heidenheim is actually legit.

  • Aston Villa vs. Everton: The most intriguing of Saturday’s Prem games for me. I think Everton have too good of a squad and coach to get relegated, but they’ve been by far the league’s worst team. At the same time, Villa look pretty legit, and have underperformed their xG by 2 goals. I am scared of an Everton mental death spiral.

  • RB Leipzig vs. Union Berlin: Leipzig are one of three Bundesliga teams to start the season with maximum points, but they’ve done this with a -2.3 xG differential over their first two games, squeaking out a very funny one against Leverkusen. They’ll have a very different kind of match against a well-organized Union.

  • Real Sociedad vs. Real Madrid: Can Vini and Mbappe learn to play together? They’ll have to figure it out away to a team that’s famously well-organized and miserable to play against. Good luck lads.

  • Cagliari vs. Napoli: OK Antonio, you’ve got your boys. Lukaku in, Osimhen out. The dream all-Scottish midfield. Time to prove your chairman didn’t just flush €150m down a giant toilet.

  • Tottenham Hotspur vs. Arsenal: I can’t imagine I have to sell this one to our audience.

Analytics haven’t done anything for football, actually

Shoutout to Michael Cox for riling a lot of people up with a hot take. In case you missed it, Ted had a lengthy response.

The #Barclaysmen Best XI

The surest sign that everyone’s bored as hell during international break: A hashtag based on nostalgia takes off. #Barclaysmen has been a thing for a while, but it spread like wildfire this week, with teams cutting compilations of their own players from the 2000s.

We’re all having fun here, but I also want to acknowledge friend of the program Grace Robertson for this extremely correct take. Follow Grace for more correct takes.

If you’re baffled as to what’s going on here: A Barclays Man is a Premier League player from the era when that bank was the league’s title sponsor, who exemplified the style of play from that era. They are usually above average, but not exceptional players, who one strongly identifies with the 2000s Premier League. If someone was world class or spent the best years of their career elsewhere, they cannot be a Barclays Man.

Without any further ado, my personal #Barclaysmen Best XI. Obviously it’s 4-4-2.

GK: Chris Kirkland — Wigan had no business staying up as many times as they did. So many of the games where they scraped a point despite being outshot 20-2 featured this 6’6” giant making ridiculous reaction saves. He was a league average keeper… except when he played against your team. At least that’s what it felt like.

LB: Leighton Baines — Is Baines too good of a player to be a true Barclays Man? Perhaps, but given how little time he actually had as the England starter, I think he qualifies. What a left foot. Got it in the mixer for Fellaini and Cahill. Peak Barclays.

LCB: Sylvain Distin — One does not need to be English to be a Barclays Man. In fact, a player from continental Europe who chooses to spend his entire career with average English clubs is more truly dedicated to the bit than someone who was born into it. 15 seasons, 441 matches, 5 clubs, pure Barclays.

RCB: Olof Mellberg — Proper hard man beloved by Villa fans to this day. Absolute nutter. Captain of an extremely fun team. His spell at Juventus wasn’t real and I feel bad even acknowledging it.

RB: Emmanuel Eboué — Was he a “good player” who “defended” or “created chances consistently?” Man, I don’t know. What I do know is this guy ran up and down the flank and played with PASHUN.

LM: Morten Gamst Pedersen — Perhaps a real lefty-only winger would be more fitting; Pedersen was impressively two-footed. But his left could open a can of beans, and he used it to both score long-range bangers and get it in the mixer. The ball just had a gorgeous look coming off his foot. I loved this guy.

CM: Keiron Dyer — Ran forward from midfield and shot from 20 yards. Always running. That’s what midfielders are supposed to do. Get box-to-box, lad. What’s positioning? Who cares? Just work harder.

CM: Niko Kranjčar — Could a two-man central midfield of Dyer and Kranjčar actually function against decent opposition? Yeah, if we just score enough goals. This is the ideal team, right? A box-to-box runner and a stylish playmaker. Perhaps Kranjčar’s greatest qualification: if you search for him on YouTube, the first video you find is set to “Supermassive Black Hole” by Muse.

RM: Aaron Lennon — Hug the touchline. Beat your defender. Get to the byline. Cross it. Now do it again. Again. Again. You beautiful little man.

ST: Kevin Davies — Only one England cap for this absolute legend?? What a crime. An amazing target forward who spent his entire career making his strike partners and attacking midfielders look better. Top 5 all-time in fouls committed and suffered. Grit. Heart. Determination. Playing for the shirt. Look what the Petroclubs and Guardiola disciples have taken from us.

ST: Louis Saha — Whether the star of a smaller club or the first bench option for a bigger one, Saha was always popping up with great goals. Imagine if he ever got to play up top next to Davies, for Big Sam, in those Bolton teams. Proper football.

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