THE futures of Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez have been the key talking points dominating Arsenal’s preparations for the 2017/18 season.
Both are entering the final year of their contracts at the Emirates and speculation is rife over whether they will still be at the club once the transfer deadline has passed.
Manager Arsene Wenger is determined to hang on to his star duo and has vehemently rebuffed interest in Sanchez in particular.
But both men were missing for the Community Shield at Wembley last weekend, and the Gunners still managed to outplay Chelsea, winning on penalties.
Our friends at Football Whispers ask whether this shows Arsenal don’t need Ozil and Sanchez quite as much as first thought.
Keeping faith in the 3-4-3 formation which saw the Gunners win nine of their final 10 games last season, including an FA Cup final triumph over Chelsea, Wenger set up his side to mirror the Blues in English football’s traditional curtain raiser.
With Sanchez still working his way back to fitness after an extended break due to his involvement in the Confederations Cup, and Ozil nursing a minor ankle injury, Danny Welbeck and Alex Iwobi lined up on either side of £46.5million club-record signing Alexandre Lacazette in attack.
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Having to face the Premier League champions without their two most gifted players seemed a daunting task for Arsenal, but the stand-ins excelled.
What Welbeck and Iwobi lack in subtlety and creativity compared to the men they were replacing, they more than made up for with energy, pace and direct, powerful runs into the half-space.
The understanding between Welbeck and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain – who started at left wing-back – in particular caused real problems for Chelsea.
Arsenal’s ability to pressurise and penetrate the Blues’ defensive structure kept wing-backs Victor Moses and Marcos Alonso pegged back for most of the game, minimising the attacking threat of Antonio Conte’s men.
The performances of Welbeck and Iwobi will have given Wenger food for thought.
With Sanchez and Ozil both able to leave the club for free in a year’s time, this summer represents the Gunners’ last chance to recoup a fee for the pair, provided they continue to hold out over penning new terms.
After the game, Wenger admitted that his squad, 33 strong, is too large and will need trimming.
He was alluding to exits for fringe players such as Lucas Perez and Carl Jenkinson, but the loss of one of his more established stars may no longer seem so devastating.
The one caveat to Sunday’s performance was that, leading the line, Lacazette was somewhat starved of service. Iwobi and Welbeck did a superb job of running the channels to open up space for the Frenchman, but there was no one able to locate him with chance-conjuring passes.
That is where Sanchez and Ozil thrive. The ideal compromise for Wenger could well be to field one of his creative duo alongside Lacazette and one of the stand-in pair from Wembley.
That way the Gunners retain potency and the threat of pace in behind the opposition, but also benefit from a player more comfortable coming towards the ball and pulling the strings in the final third.
Sanchez, a Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City transfer target, was Arsenal’s top scorer last season with 24 league goals. His loss would be a blow for Wenger from a PR perspective as much as out on the field.
But there is reason to believe that the North Londoners could bounce back from his departure to become even stronger. Lacazette is a deadly finisher with pace to burn and he will shoulder the goalscoring burden.
Inspiration can be taken from bitter rivals Tottenham Hotspur, who increased their goals-per-game average from 2.26 to 2.75 while star striker Harry Kane was out injured for a month between March and April last season.
Heung-min Son and Vincent Janssen deputised for Tottenham’s No.10 and, while neither is on the same level as Kane, Spurs were actually more clinical in front of goal – contrary to initial fears.
That should give Arsenal cause for optimism.
The Community Shield is not the trophy top clubs are clamouring to win.
But Arsenal’s victory and, more crucially, their performance against Chelsea showed that they can cope just fine without Sanchez and Ozil.
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