Pep Guardiola neared Mikel Arteta, put one arm around his shoulder and gave the Arsenal manager an affectionate smack on the jaw. Guardiola smiled, while Arteta grinned. Then master and pupil pulled away. Arteta put his hands in his pocket, staring straight ahead and started leading his team from the tunnel and on to the pitch at Wembley for the Community Shield match against Manchester City on Sunday. There was business to be taken care of, and the Spaniard was going to get on with it.
Guardiola, who was momentarily left behind in the tunnel at the head of his team, followed suit.
After missing out on the Premier League title last season despite topping the table for most of the campaign, Arsenal have shown a fast-burning intensity during pre-season to grab the upcoming season by the collar and dictate terms. Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez experienced this first-hand, during a 3-5 pre-season defeat to Arsenal on July 27.
“I said to Mikel at the end of the game, it was like a Champions League tie with the intensity they put in,” grumbled Xavi at the end of the match. “It is not normal to play with so much intensity, making tactical fouls. We took (the match) seriously but the main reason (for losing) was the difference in rhythm and match sharpness.”
WHERE IS ARSENAL’S BACK-UP NUMBER 9?
It is, then, a surprise to see Arsenal approach the new season with a significant chink in their armour still unresolved: the lack of a back-up number 9 of sufficient quality.
In the absence of Gabriel Jesus – as happened on Sunday against Manchester City – Arsenal do not have a player of adequate quality to step in and do the job. One that enjoys Gunners boss Arteta’s confidence, anyway.
City dominated the opening 20 minutes of the match against Arsenal on Sunday, with the Gunners happy to allow the treble winners time to settle into their game and groove.
However, City produced few clear-cut chances in the first half as Arsenal came back into the game strongly. Arsenal also created the 2 best chances of the first half. Though the Gunners eventually scored in the 101st minute to level the score and take the game to penalties, following which they won the Community Shield, Arsenal could have taken the lead in the tie if they had had an adequate back-up to Jesus on Sunday.
Kai Havertz, their £65 million summer signing, wasted Arsenal’s best chance of the match in the 40th minute, when his shot towards goal following an impressive Bukayo Saka run from the right to feed him the ball was too feeble to beat City goalkeeper Stefan Ortega.
That was his most obvious offensive contribution to Arsenal on Sunday.
HAVERTZ: A CURIOUS CHOICE AS STRIKER
Havertz is not a natural centre forward, and does not have the physicality or goalscoring instincts for it. Despite this, however, he was continually played as a number 9 for much of his time at Chelsea, with underwhelming results. Though the German has, in the past, insisted he’s happy to play as a centre forward, he said after joining Arsenal this summer that he prefers to play as a number 8, as an attacking midfielder. “I really enjoy it, to play that position (as a number 8),” Havertz told ESPN recently. “I am more on the ball, more integrated in the game. I am really enjoying it. I think I have a lot of room to improve in the games, I am still adapting to the game and everything. So far it is working quite well.”
It was primarily as an attacking midfielder that Havertz caught the attention of Europe’s biggest clubs during his time at Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga, before joining Chelsea in 2020.
In 150 matches for Leverkusen, Havertz played as an attacking midfielder 84 times and a right winger 32 times. He played as a centre forward just 9 times during his 4 seasons with Leverkusen. Though he did score 8 times during the 9 times he played as a centre forward, he struggled in the much more physical Premier League to replicate the same form with Chelsea.
His numbers at Chelsea are decent but unremarkable, with 21 goals from 69 matches played as centre forward, to go with 5 assists when playing as a number 9. Though Havertz did score the only goal in the 2021 Champions League final to help Chelsea win their second Champions League title, his time as a Blue was largely one of undelivered promise.
On Sunday, in the absence of the injured Jesus, Arteta once again thrust Havertz up front, with predictable results. He failed to give the City defenders any great cause for headache, and failed to convert the one solid chance that came his way.
A THIN STABLE OF FORWARDS
With Jesus expected to be sidelined for a few weeks after undergoing minor knee surgery, Arsenal fans will hope Arteta gives a chance to Eddie Nketiah to fill the void left by the Brazilian. The 24-year-old Englishman has proven to be an able replacement in the past, tirelessly contributing to the team’s cause and scoring 19 goals in the last 2 seasons up front for the Gunners. Though Nketiah does not yet possess the level of quality that Jesus does as a striker, Arteta’s other options for the number 9 role are far inferior to Nketiah.
Arsenal have in their ranks the excellent Folarin Balogun, but the American striker will be sold on this summer after he made it clear he needs game time and does not want to go out on loan again after spending last season with Reims in Ligue 1. Balogun scored 22 goals and made 3 assists for Reims last season.
Arsenal’s other possible candidates for the number 9 role include Leandro Trossard, Marquinhos and Reiss Nelson, all primarily wingers by trade. Arteta has also spoken in the past about using Emile Smith Rowe as a number 9 if necessary. “I think (Smith Rowe) can play in four positions. As a left winger, a left attacking midfielder, a right attacking midfielder and he can play as a nine, very, very well,” Arteta said in February 2022.
Arsenal topped the table for 93 per cent of last season, and still lost the title to City. Two factors above all were responsible for the points they dropped last season: the loss of Gabriel Jesus to injury midway through the campaign and the even more damaging loss of William Saliba to injury for the last third of the season.
Arsenal seem to have fixed the issue of having an adequate replacement for Saliba by signing Jurrien Timber from Ajax this summer for €40 million, but they have not signed an adequate back-up for Jesus.
It is indisputable that Saliba’s absence hit the Gunners harder last season. The Frenchman’s absence came at a greater cost – Arsenal collected just 18 points out of a possible 33 in their final 11 league matches of the season. When Jesus was absent for 12 league matches midway through the season through a knee injury, the Gunners collected 26 points out of a possible 36.
However, Arsenal lost the title by 5 points last season and as Arteta knows, every single point counts against City.