There's been a lot of blather about Mikel Merino being the solution for Arsenal's striker crisis, but 25 minutes against Leicester's defense is not a true experiment for that hypothesis. His goals were well taken, the assists from Nwaneri and Trossard near perfect. We needed 3 points from this game and we got them. However, the Foxes are in the relegation zone for a reason. And we struggled for 80 minutes without forcing their keeper into anything heroic. I do agree that Merino will have to play at least a false 9 out of necessity. But he's not a striker. He does not have great pace or a proven shooting touch. He's not going to get assists like that every game. He's what we have now and I wish him the best. It's still going to be tough to win games without a recognized striker. Any of Liverpool's front men would be a nailed-on starter for Arsenal.
Some of our close rivals in the table (Chelsea, Newcastle, Forest, Villa) dropped points over the weekend, making it less likely that a severe dropoff in form would see us fall out of a Champions' League spot.
Arsenal women won the North London Derby 5-0 in a match that was not as close as the score indicated.
No comments:
Post a Comment