Joe Willock, for all the deserved praise and the excitement surrounding his recent performances, has yet to make an appearance in the Premier League for Arsenal this season.
That might be a frustration for the young midfielder, who with each match appears to grow more influential and more self-assured.
Willock was excellent again on Thursday night as a much-changed Arsenal side fought back from a goal down to beat Molde 4-1 in the Europa League. After missing a couple of chances in the second half, he fired a shot into the roof of the net with a couple of minutes remaining to put the gloss on another classy display.
Mikel Arteta was complimentary after the game about Willock.
“Keep doing what he's doing consistently, and his chance will arrive,” the Arsenal boss said.
Willock, too, made clear his intention. “I always want to kick on, play more games and start more games in the PL and become a player that I've always wanted to be,” he said. “I just wanted to focus on doing that.
“At the start of the season I had a few conversations with the boss and it was very encouraging, and the manager is someone I have a good relationship with, so I trust him. I'm just trying to work hard and have performances that ask questions.”
He is a young player with the kind of attitude that will delight his manager. There will be no complaints, no demands to play more often. He will bide his time and do his talking on the pitch.
There have been suggestions that the 21-year-old should leave on loan, but that might be counterproductive given his recent progress at Arsenal. The Europa League is still a high level competition and consistently strong performances on Thursday nights will do more to impress Arteta than a spell away from the club.
The issue, though, is where Willock fits into the starting XI when everyone is available. Arsenal are not short of options in midfield.
But they have been short of creativity. Arsenal have scored just nine goals in seven Premier League games this season and struggled to break down a disciplined Leicester City side in their last game at the Emirates.
Aston Villa make the trip to London on Sunday and it wouldn’t be a surprise if the same problems present themselves again. From a defensive perspective, the midfield has been shored up by the £45m signing of Thomas Partey and the form of Mohamed Elneny, revitalised under Arteta.
Those two players proved unquestionably effective in the 1-0 win against Manchester United at Old Trafford last weekend, but the Villa game will take a different shape. Arsenal will be the side asked to probe and create, to be proactive rather than reactive.
Willock might be perfect, then, given his success as a more advanced midfielder in the Molde game. He operated as a roaming No.10, finding pockets of space and making late runs into the box.
Arsenal badly need some dynamism in midfield, particularly in home games against sides intent on maintaining a compact defensive structure. A low block becomes even more difficult to break down when there is no real creativity in midfield.
Dani Ceballos has been tried in that role alongside Partey, but now might be the time to give Willock his opportunity.
His naturally forward-thinking approach should compliment the more cultured, orderly style of Partey, and it shouldn’t really come at the cost of the team’s defensive organisation.
In Arteta’s 3-4-3, Willock could well be the missing piece.
