Is the time for Zinchenko at left 8 with Havertz, Vieira and ESR failing auditions

Zinchenko lifting the crown v Burnley (Thanks to Stu Macfarlane/AFC/Getty)

Far be it for me to ever put myself in the manager’s shoes, (as if we armchair pundits would ever be so bold), but if I was Mikel Arteta I would be in Leverkusen’s Bay Arena on Monday night. Not to say hello to Granit, as he will not be there, but to watch the man whom he now simply must be considering to fill the much-missed Swiss skipper’s shoes.

My colleague at GT, Thomas suggested a few weeks ago that with the form of Tomiyasu, the Ukrainian captain Zinchenko could be moved forward to the left eight role vacated by Xhaka. Of course, it is not as simple as sweepingly suggested that Zinny is better at the creative aspects of the inverted left back role, than the more traditional defensive ones. More that Tomiyasu has proved himself more than capable of inverting effectively and he is without doubt a superior defender. In addition, the fact that the popular Japanese star is so comfortably two-footed helps so much in both parts of the role.

Hope Arteta is watching in the Bay Arena

In truth, for me at least, as much as Zinchenko’s defensive limitations do worry me, it is more our inability to fill the left eight role that Xhaka made his own that causes my anxiety. So, far, not even a third of the way through our Premier League campaign, we have seen Havertz, Vieira, Smith Rowe and most recently Rice utilised in the advanced role on the left of our midfield. It would be fair to say that none of the permutations that Arteta has tried have given us the fluency we had with Partey anchoring and Xhaka and Odegaard as dual 8s.

Obviously, Rice is magnificent in the role, but he began the campaign firmly at 6. Without Partey, having looked at Havertz, Vieira and Smith Rowe, Arteta has opted for the wily experience of Jorginho at 6, and asked Rice to move into Xkaka’s own role. Sadly, due to our skipper’s injury we have not truly seen Rice, alongside Odegaard to judge the long-term viability, but we do know that it is unlikely that Partey, now certainly out until next year, or Jorginho, out of contract next summer are our future number 6.

Linked with Luiz

Recently, the media are again linking us to Douglas Luiz, who is having a fine season to date for Aston Villa. He can undoubtedly slot in defensively to allow Rice to continue at left 8, or indeed, as more recently under Emery, can play the advanced role. In the short-term, however, given the obvious frailties and limitations of Vieira and Havertz in the role, and the continued untimely injuries to Smith Rowe, is it time to at least have a look at Zinchenko in a genuine midfield position?

Arteta now knows beyond any doubt that Tomiyasu has adapted to the left back role in a way Kieran Tierney was unable to do, to his satisfaction. Playing him there is not weakening us defensively, the opposite in fact and he has flourished when moving into the midfield. That said, when playing the weaker teams, who adopt a low block defensive strategy we do miss the extra vision and ability to produce the unexpected that Zinchenko gives us. The Ukrainian matches the passing range of Xhaka, and his knack of finding a teammate in tight spaces in the box, or judging a lofted pass in behind, is truly top notch.

Thriving this season at inverted left back

After the international break, I hope we will have Odegaard back and firing, and I truly wish the Havertz and Vieira experiments are discarded in the short term, and we see Rice, Zinchenko, and our skipper, as a midfield 3 for the first time. I also feel this will not unduly limit Rice’s attacking prowess, with the more secure Tomiyasu able to cover so well.

I should clarify that I have absolutely no issue with Rice at left 8, with Jorginho at 6, but I simply do not see it as a long-term strategy given the Italian international’s age and short contract. If we buy our future 6 in January then fine, but Luiz will be expensive, so before then I just want us to at least look at one more internal solution, one that has so much potential upside. Having Tomiyasu at inverted left back and Rice and 6 will certainly make us harder to break down, whilst we would potentially even gain offensively given Zinchenko’s imagination and passing precision.

What say you? It must be worth an experiment against Brentford, who will allow us to play.

Dave Seager

Passionate fifty-something Arsenal supporter who has been making the journey to N5 regularly since the early 1980s – although his first game was in 1976. Always passionate when talking about The Arsenal, Dave decided to send a guest blog to Gunnersphere in the summer of 2011 and has not stopped writing about the Gunners since.

He set up his own site – 1 Nil Down 2 One Up – in February 2012, which he moved on in 2016 to concentrate on freelance writing and building Gunners Town, which he launched with Paul in 2014.

The objective of GT was to be new and fresh and to give a platform for likeminded passionate Arsenal fans wishing to write about their team. Dave still of course, writes for the site himself and advises the ever-changing writing crew.