It’s true – our squad has never been healthier.
We’ve had years of worry as injury crises bite at our numbers, leaving our respective managers having to adapt players into different roles, teams into different formations to cope.
How many times have we seen players filling in where necessary, playing a position that clearly doesn’t fit them?
Plenty – but that’s over now.
We’ve got an embarrassment of riches. In defence we can rely on international class in every position. Established players as backup, waiting to jump onto the pitch as the games take their toll on the squad.
Aside from our striker slot, every spot on our team has a first choice and a mighty-fine deputy to vie for a place.
And the competition is no fiercer than in the midfield berths.
Declan Rice hit the ground running when we signed him, but Arteta has evolved him into a world-beater. His position encompasses both defence and attack, he is the metronome of the side, both closing gaps when under pressure and also being a key that unlocks the tightest of low-blocks.
In short, Rice is two players in one. And it means Martin Zubimendi is missing out.
The Spanish international is a Rolls Royce of a player. Elegant, assured on the ball, he is the antithesis of a defensive midfielder. And yet that is his role. A deep-lying player who breaks up opposition attacks and serenely gets his team back on the ball, back on the front foot.
But that is a defined set of skills. And with Rice doing all that and more, no-one can blame Arteta for relying on Rice completely. Every manager in the world would do the same. If you have a world-class player, you play them.
The team needs to let Rice dictate the play. Rice needs a partner who will interchange with him, to pivot with him, to dovetail.
Bruno Guimaraes is that player. A midfielder who can do the dirty stuff on the pitch but also chime in with game-changing passes and long-range shots that swivel game patterns.
Lewis-Skelly is the same. He has the ability to carry under pressure too, which gives him an added skill that can define fixtures. From what we’ve seen, Lewis-Skelly will progress into a complete midfielder, if his progress continues.
But it leaves Zubimendi as a player who is brought into a game to close out tight scorelines. He has made 5 appearances this season, all as a sub, aside from the Carabao Cup where he played as a right-back. PL appearances amount to a total of 89 minutes.
Zubimendi, a World-Cup winning maestro, is restricted to a bit-part role, thanks to the strengths of his positional rivals in the squad.
It’s a plus and a minus. Our midfield is perhaps the strongest in the Premier League this season. Throw into the mix our resurgent captain and we have a central midfield roster that would get into any side.
The minus will be that Zubimendi, wanted by so many top sides before we snapped him up, will be looking elsewhere. Unless he begins to get back into the side.
But the only chances Zubimendi has to make that happen is long-term injuries to Rice, Bruno and Lewis-Skelly – or if Zubimendi adapts to the needs of the side and becomes a player that adds as much weight going forward as he does in the defensive third.
If this doesn’t happen, we may be waving adios to our Spanish midfield general.
And if that happens, he’ll be leaving a hole in our squad that will be hard to fill.
Until then, we can be thankful Zubimendi is in our ranks and we can enjoy the security he brings.
What do you think? Does Zubimendi have a role to play? Or is he on the way out? Comments below!
