There’s something odd and unsettling about playing a Champions League match on a Thursday night but here we are in UEFA’s brave new world.
Our 2024/25 campaign kicks off against Atalanta in Italy tonight and I guess the biggest question mark from an Arsenal perspective is how we will shape up for what I think will be a trickier test than most are assuming.
Despite an indifferent start to their domestic season, Atalanta are worthy participants in this year’s competition and have acquired a reputation for quality football under coach Gian Gasperini. That’s leaving aside the fact they defeated all-conquering Bayer Leverkusen in the Europa League final last year.
So, while we might all prefer to make a few changes for this fixture, I tend to think the manager will go with as full strength a side as he can muster. It’s a rare occasion that sees him give anybody some time off anyway and I expect this will be no different.
In an ideal world, I’d like to see Bukayo Saka start this one from the bench and Raheem Sterling brought into the fray. I would even consider it worth bringing Jakub Kiwior in the centre of defence to take some of the load off Gabriel Magalhaes and Riccardo Calafiori fielded at left back to allow Jurrien Timber some additional recovery time.
Manchester City looms very large in our calendar and the fresher we can be for this Sunday’s fixture the better. If that means using some of the tools at our disposal and keeping our squad fully engaged, so be it.
The manager, I suspect, will take a different view.
The other big conundrum for tonight and, indeed, for the weeks ahead, is what to do in the centre of midfield, in the space vacated by the injured Martin Odegaard. It seems the Norwegian is set for a lengthy spell on the sidelines and that means the manager will need to find more than a short-term fix.
A lot of how we play centres around the former Real Madrid man and how he triggers the press so it will interesting to see how Arteta adapts. Having sold Emile Smith Rowe and loaned Fabio Vieira, he has lost two obvious options to replace his captain so that only really leaves some sort of compromise or some serious minutes for 17-year-old Ethan Nwaneri.
It is a lot to ask of a teenager with fewer than a dozen senior games under his belt and would have been a possibility some way from the manager’s mind at the start of the season. Sometimes, however, circumstances overtake the best laid plans and this might be such an occasion.
The young man is certainly talented and extremely well thought of at Arsenal. Could he be a new Cesc Fabregas?
For all the decisions yet to come, we still have a match to win in front of us and an opportunity to keep pace with the sides who have already played their first fixtures this week.
Atalanta will not simply roll over, however, and we will need every ounce of the concentration we saw last Sunday if we want to start our campaign on the front foot and keep our momentum rolling heading into the weekend.
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