If, for some mad reason, you’ve ever doubted what Bukayo Saka brings to this Arsenal side, you saw just how important he is tonight by his absence.
With Saka on the pitch, the Gunners were incisive, confident and utterly in control. From the moment he left the pitch with what looked like a muscular injury, we were never really in control again. That’s both hugely reassuring and hugely concerning at the same time.
In fairness, the decision by Mikel Arteta to replace Saka with Fabio Vieira may have played into just how much we lost out wide and I think it’s fair to say the issue was exacerbated by the continued absence of Gabriel Martinelli on the opposite wing.
Both players offer width, pace, direct running and genuine threat. While Leandro Trossard and Vieira are excellent players in their own right, they don’t offer anything like the same threat in those wide areas and our game suffered enormously as a result.
As the game progressed, the hosts became increasingly aware of the diminished threat and pushed higher and higher, upping their intensity and aggression too. Arsenal retreated in response and, while it would be wrong to say they were unduly troubled at the back, the match became stagnant and the Gunners simply ran out of ideas.
We missed Saka badly and tonight revealed a lot about why the manager is so keen to play him at every available opportunity. He is quite simply irreplaceable and nobody else can do what he does. If you’re of the praying persuasion, I suggest you do some serious supplication this week because we face Manchester City this weekend and the 22-year-old’s absence could be decisive.
For all that, it is worth noting that the Gunners did enough in this match to come away with more than they did. Lens were fortunate not to concede more than one and had a mixture of some superb last-ditch defending and extremely fortuitous goalkeeping to thank for their victory.
Takehiro Tomiyasu, Reiss Nelson and Trossard were all denied what looked like certain goals that, but for a few millimeters here or there, would have won us the game – or at least ensured we avoided defeat.
It wasn’t to be though, and the Ligue 1 side held on to record a famous win on their return to the Champions League for the first time in 20 years.
Arsenal, meanwhile, will be left licking the wounds of their first defeat of the season and pouring over just what went wrong.
David Raya, again preferred to Aaron Ramsdale, did not cover himself in glory. It was another poor pass of his that led to the Lens equaliser and questions will rightly be asked of his performance. He was, ostensibly, signed for his abilities in possession but I have seen little so far that would suggest he is an upgrade on Aaron Ramsdale. In fact, the evidence I have seen suggests he is worse. It will be interesting to see if the manager persists with the Spaniard this weekend. My guess is he will but scrutiny will start to ramp up.
Elsewhere on the pitch, it’s tough to really complain too much. Some players were quiet – Martin Odegaard, Trossard, and Oleksandr Zinchenko – but they weren’t bad by any measure. The team as a whole, barring a few exceptions, just lacked a little dynamism and a dash of excellence to elevate them in a tight spot.
In short, they lacked a dash of Saka. The England forward has shown himself to be remarkably, inexplicably durable up until now, and long may that continue, but his withdrawal for the second game in succession should set alarm bells ringing. We need to find ways to thrive when he isn’t available.
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