Thomas Partey and Sambi Lokonga were both at fault as Arsenal conceded two goals at home on Monday night against Crystal Palace. The individual mistakes meant the Gunners dropped two crucial points and could have nearly lost all three.
Arsenal have faced serious challenges in midfield since the injury to Granit Xhaka. His suspension from both wins over Norwich and Burnley and now absence from the squad for the draws with Brighton and Palace have highlighted the lack of strength in depth.
Lokonga has found covering for the Swiss senior figure tricky whilst Mikel Arteta has been reluctant to use Mohamed Elneny or Ainsley Maitland-Niles instead of the Belgian.
Arsenal brought in just Lokonga in the summer to strengthen the midfield after multiple links to more established midfielders. Manuel Locatelli, Ruben Neves, Yves Bissouma and Bruno Guimaraes were all tipped with moves to the club.
Yet Arsenal instead renewed the contract of Xhaka after his proposed move to Roma collapsed. The links to further midfield reinforcements subsided as Arsenal focused the last of their summer spending on bringing in players in three other roles.
Martin Odegaard joined in attacking midfield, Aaron Ramsdale was added to the goalkeeper roster and Takehiro Tomiyasu replaced Hector Bellerin at right-back.
The Gunners had already spent £50 million on Ben White to provide further support and improvement to the central defensive area. However, Arsenal already had a defender in the side considered to be as good as White.
William Saliba left the club for the third time on loan to join Marseille. The Arsenal Way spoke to French football expert and Brighton fan Jeremy Smith who explained that White was no better than the 20-year-old and the only difference was the experience at Premier League level.
“I don’t think he’s [White] any upgrade,” claimed Smith with a smile.
“I don’t think he’s any worse, but I think if you have already spent £30 million on a player it just seems very strange to me to spend another 50 when you could use that elsewhere when you’ve got a player who’s just as good.”
Had Arsenal decided not to spend the £50 million on White in the summer, the investment could have instead been directed to another quality central midfielder.
Arsenal would then not be facing as many struggles as they are currently and have an arguable upgrade on Xhaka to help fight towards the club’s ambitions.
Central midfield was a crucial area in need of attention in the summer and Arsenal missed out on acting. Whether their lack of investment in the standout position costs them European football remains to be seen.
January may present itself as an opportunity to address the need, but there remain no guarantees the club will push to bring anyone in of note this winter.
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