It’s amazing how quickly things change in football, isn’t it? After the October international break Arsenal looked like a shadow of the team who had run Manchester City so close for the Premier League title.
They failed to win across games with Bournemouth, Liverpool, Newcastle and Chelsea but have now returned to form with an almighty bang.
The Gunners are back and they are purring again. If you thought their 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest last Saturday was impressive then their 5-1 victory in Lisbon on Tuesday night was remarkable.
Up against Sporting, a team who hadn’t lost at home in 18 months and had beaten Man City 4-1 just a few weeks prior, Mikel Arteta’s men made the Portuguese champions look distinctly average.
Of course, they no longer have Ruben Amorim at the helm but this was a team still boasting the most in-form striker in Europe, Viktor Gyokeres.
Well, the Gunners dealt with him pretty well…
Arsenal's best performers against Sporting
With Martin Odegaard returning to the starting lineup following a 12-game absence through injury, Arsenal look a great deal better in attack.
Their forward play is perhaps predictable in the way they relentlessly attack down the right flank but with Odegaard supplying Bukayo Saka it’s a near unplayable route to goal.
Saka was one of the goalscorers on the night, bagging from the penalty spot but he was also a provider. Of course, he was. The winger added to his tally of assists for the season by laying the ball on a plate for Kai Havertz who scored the second of the night.
The romp was started by Gabriel Martinelli who turned home Jurrien Timber’s cross before Havertz found the net and then Gabriel scored a crashing header on the verge of half-time
Saka added one from the spot and then it was Leandro Trossard who headed home to round off proceedings late on.
Despite a flurry of goals, however, we want to shower praise on the aforementioned Gabriel and William Saliba.
This was always going to be a huge test for the Gunners’ backline who were coming up against a forward in the shape of Gyokeres who had scored 24 goals in 20 matches this term.
The scorer of a ruthless hat-trick against Man City in the Champions League last time out, he was not afforded the same luxury when Arsenal visited Lisbon.
3
0
2.41
0.37
5
2
0
3
2
0
0
3
In truth, Saliba and Gabriel made him look small as the defensive duo won a combined haul of eight duels out of 11 contested. It was near flawless from one of the best centre-back pairings on the continent.
Gyokeres has been linked with Arsenal in the past few months but he arguably failed his audition last night. That may well be good for some of Arteta’s forward line, including their new Kanu…
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Arsenal's new Kanu has been unleashed
Since signing for a bargain fee of £26m in January 2023 after the north Londoners missed out on Mykhailo Mudryk, a certain Trossard has been a man inspired in Arsenal colours.
He began life in the English capital with a flurry of assists, providing ten assists in his first 20 Premier League appearances for the club.
Since then he’s become more of a goalscorer and actually finished second only to Saka last term when he found the net on 17 occasions in all competitions. He’s certainly proven to be a very useful asset.
Sadly, despite rumours of a new contract being dished out to the Belgian, he hasn’t quite been at the races in 2024/25 yet.
That’s largely because he’s had to play out of position. With Odegaard on the treatment table for several games, Arteta handed the keys to Trossard who began figuring in a more central role behind Havertz.
It did not go according to plan. During that run when the club captain was out of the team, the 29-year-old scored just once in the league and failed to provide a single assist.
Now back on the flanks, the former Brighton man is beginning to look like the same player we saw last year. He started ahead of Martinelli against Forest last weekend and although missing a big chance, had a pretty handy impact, attempting six dribbles and seven crosses.
Sent back to the bench against Sporting on Tuesday, he seemed to score his customary goal from the bench, heading home the rebound of a powerful effort from Mikel Merino’s boot that was parried straight to the winger by goalkeeper Franco Israel.
He’s made quite the habit of scoring from the bench with six of his 14 league goals coming when he’s been introduced as a sub. In the Champions League, he’s been particularly vital as a late introduction, notably scoring a hugely important goal against Bayern Munich at the Emirates last season. In the words of club reporter Connor Humm, Trossard has been a real “cheat code”.
All of that means that Arsenal may well have unearthed their new Nwankwo Kanu, one of English football’s greatest super subs.
The Nigerian forward, who made 197 appearances for the club and scored 44 goals, made a living out of being a substitute. Indeed, no player has appeared off the bench more times than Kanu (118) in Premier League history.
1. Jermain Defoe
24
2. Olivier Giroud
21
3. Javier Hernandez
19
4. Nwankwo Kanu
17
=4 Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
17
=4 Daniel Sturridge
17
7. Peter Crouch
16
A player who constantly breathed life into games after being brought on, he went on to score 17 times as a sub with seven of those coming in his first two years at Highbury. For context, only four players have scored more in such situations.
Kanu and Trossard may not be hugely alike in terms of play style but their influence on the club is incredibly similar. Some may not like the diminutive Belgium but he’s had some mighty fine displays since arriving in 2023.
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