Time for Arteta to start relying on his Arsenal squad

It was as comfortable a 1-0 as you can get with Leicester sitting back, aiming to frustrate Arsenal, but in the process the Foxes could only muster 0.1 expected goals with a late long-range effort, handing the Gunners a relatively routine 90 minutes.

Eddie Nketiah, who had started every game since Gabriel Jesus’ injury in the World Cup, was given a rest, with Leandro Trossard stepping into a role up top and Martinelli returning to his starting birth on the left wing. 

While Leicester’s approach and Arsenal’s lack of intensity resulted in a game of few chances, the Gunners goal came from a pattern of play we saw a few times early on in the season, with the centre forward drifting wide and opening up space for Martinelli to drive through the middle to score, reminiscent of the Brazilian’s link-up with Gabriel Jesus. 

Mikel Arteta’s rotation of Nketiah, in part due to injury, will be an aspect that will need to be managed throughout the coming weeks with the likes of Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard, Granit Xhaka, Oleksandr Zinchenko and the centre-backs playing nearly every game since the restart after the World Cup.  

With the Europa League starting up again next week, Arteta should look to his squad when the time allows to provide some respite for the frequent starters, bringing in players such as Kieran Tierney to keep Zinchenko fresh. 

The key will be getting the balance right with rotation, keeping core partnerships like William Saliba and Gabriel together will be important, but swapping out players like Xhaka and Odegaard will be vital over the coming weeks.

Arsenal will face Portuguese side Sporting Lisbon in the last 16, off the back of the Portuguese club’s 5-1 aggregate win over FC Midtjylland.

And with a flurry of midweek games, Arteta will need to consider his squad rotation both for the Premier League and for Europe ahead of next Thursday’s first leg – it may even be time to start prioritising the competitions given the Premier League success.