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At the end of the January 2025 transfer window, Mikel Arteta claimed that Arsenal had “one of the thinnest squads in the league.” The opposite is arguably true 12 months on.
As the flood of attacking injuries subside, Arteta actually has some selection decisions to make. The stubborn Gunners boss has stuck with a settled frontline over the festive period but could be inclined to mix it up for Saturday’s clash with a Bournemouth team that haven’t won a single game since Halloween.
Rather than wholesale changes, which has never been his approach for Premier League games, Arteta is more likely to offer a few figures at risk of being overloaded some much-needed respite before clashes against Liverpool, Chelsea and Inter later this month.
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GK: David Raya—The former Blackburn Rovers shot-stopper earned himself a trial thanks to the prodigious size of his hands when he was a 15-year-old. Those meaty paws have served Arsenal very well so far.
RB: Ben White—Not fond of losing in any circumstance. “My missus and I play a lot of games at home and I won’t be letting her win,” the doting husband once told The Guardian.
CB: William Saliba—It was on a trip to Bournemouth’s Vitality Stadium that the mythos of Saliba was born. On his third ever Premier League appearance back in 2022, the French centre back scored his first goal for the club, sparking a rendition of his name to the tune of Tequila by The Champs which lasted the entire match and most of the subsequent three-and-a-half years.
CB: Gabriel—Back in the team, among the goals and inside the heads of opposition players.
LB: Piero Hincapié—Arteta hails the battling defender as his “warrior” but there is more guile to Hincapié’s game—especially if his appearance in an Ecuadorian advert as a South American James Bond is anything to go by.
CM: Martin Ødegaard—The real Martin Ødegaard has finally stood up. Arsenal’s scurrying skipper has been directly involved in more Premier League goals over his last two games (two) than the previous 11 combined (one).
CM: Martín Zubimendi—What do Arteta, Andoni Iraola and Zubimendi have in common? They all played for the same prolific Basque youth team, Antiguoko Kirol Elkartea.
CM: Eberechi Eze—The previous nine Premier League goals Eze has scored have all come within the M25. His last top-flight strike outside of London was in April, when he was still very much a Crystal Palace player.
RW: Noni Madueke—It feels like a quirk in the fabric of reality that Madueke is still waiting for his first Premier League goal or assist for Arsenal. Thanks to the strength of his performances domestically and on the continent, this is not a storyline which has gained any traction.
ST: Viktor Gyökeres—“I think I’m better when I don’t think about it too much,” Gyökeres thought out loud. By that logic, he’s been over-thinking more than Pep Guardiola this season.
LW: Gabriel Martinelli—João Carlos, Martinelli’s father, has been planning his son’s future for a while. “He has been preparing for this since he was three years old,” the hands-on parent admitted in the past. “I get goosebumps just thinking about it.” It is undoubtedly a chilling thought.
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