Jorginho and one other Arsenal star that must start against Newcastle if Arteta really want to defeat them
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has a number of key decisions ahead of Saturday evening when the Gunners take on Newcastle United. The Gunners travel to St. James’ Park off the back of a disappointing Carabao Cup loss against West Ham on Wednesday evening.
The Hammers won 3-1 at the London Stadium in a fairly poor display from Arteta’s men, with Ben White’s own goal followed up by strikes from Mohammed Kudus and Jarrod Bowen before Martin Odegaard’s stoppage-time consolation effort. Arteta fielded a team that contained a number of fringe players, with the likes of Reiss Nelson, Aaron Ramsdale and Jakub Kiwior handed starts.
The Spaniard also opted to start Oleksandr Zinchenko at left-back, leaving Takehiro Tomiyasu on the bench, something that could potentially be seen as a hint that the Japanese international will start this weekend against Newcastle United. Zinchenko has typically been preferred, with Tomiyasu’s one league start coming back in August against Crystal Palace – a match that the Ukraine international wasn’t fully fit for.
However, Tomiyasu has enjoyed several excellent performances from the bench in recent times, coinciding with Zinchenko’s form taking a slight dip. The former’s superior defensive nous makes him a prime candidate to start against the Magpies, who are no slouches in attack.
In fact, Eddie Howe’s men have registered more expected goals than any other Premier League side so far this term, as per Understat. The Tyneside-based club boast plenty of pace in attack, with players are keen to take on the opposition defenders one versus one.
Therefore, Tomiyasu’s skillset makes him a more suitable candidate, who has at times been suspect in these defensive scenarios. Arteta also had a major decision to make in midfield, who will start alongside club-captain Martin Odegaard and record-signing Declan Rice.
The answer is fairly simple, especially when you cast your mind back to last season’s trip to Tyneside. That day, Jorginho started as the Gunners’ number six.
The Italian international was superb throughout, dictating the tempo of the match and reading the game extremely well as he helped his side come away with a 2-0 victory. His performance was so excellent that Manchester United legend Gary Neville compared him to Paul Scholes.
Speaking to Sky Sports after the game, Neville said: “I say Paul Scholes is the best I’ve ever played with, and there was an example of what he used to do out on the pitch at Newcastle. In the most difficult atmospheres, in the most tense part of the season, against the most tenacious opposition, when it’s the most difficult and everyone else wants to lump it up the pitch, who’s going to get on the ball, take it when it’s tight, poke it through midfield, get yourself into an attacking shape so that you can actually set off your attacking patterns, and do that religiously and repetitively through those kind of games?
“At Manchester United, that man was Paul Scholes. He did it for 15 years. What we saw from Jorginho at Newcastle was a class performance, a real class performance. Partey had shown some nerves and some edginess in the last few matches when the team needed composure, and I thought Jorginho demonstrated what you really do need when it’s really at its toughest.
“Arsenal were under significant pressure, I thought it was going to be far too much for them, and I thought Jorginho was the difference for them, along with Odegaard, the two players with the most technical ability in that team. The two in midfield, Odegaard and Jorginho, won that game for Arsenal.”
