It’s Champions League action this evening, as we face Sevilla in the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan Stadium.
After what happened last time out against Lens, it’s absolutely vital we get something from this game, and I suspect that defeat in France will ensure that Mikel Arteta picks the strongest team available to him. That might mean a change or two from the one that started on Saturday at Stamford Bridge, and the most obvious one for me is Thomas Partey replacing Jorginho in midfield.
He did get some minutes for Ghana in the Interlull, and I wonder if the decision not to use him from the start against Chelsea was made with this game in mind. The fact he didn’t come off the bench probably had more to do with game state than fitness, and I hope he’s available today. That obviously means Declan Rice plays a bit further forward, but I think he can be very effective there – although that ‘left 8’ remains a position with a big question mark over it so far this season.
Beyond that, you could make a case for Takehiro Tomiyasu getting a start at left-back, but I’m not as down on Oleksandr Zinchenko this season as some. He wasn’t good on Saturday, but then that was true of half the team, at least, and I thought he was instrumental in our win over Man City before the international break. The goalkeeping situation is one I touched on yesterday, but from what he said in his press conference, it doesn’t seem as if Arteta is considering a change there – for this game at least.
I’m also curious to see how well Gabriel Jesus is after having his Achilles assaulted, and then knocked into kingdom come by Robert Sanchez. He’s a tough lad, and I’m sure he’ll be up for it, but I wouldn’t be massively surprised if we saw Kai Havertz start up front.
Whatever team the manager picks though, we have to take this game very seriously. Sevilla’s position in La Liga isn’t really reflective of the quality of their squad, and they come into this one off the back of a 1-1 draw with leaders Real Madrid on Saturday, so their confidence will be boosted by that.
Asked what he learned from the defeat to Lens, Mikel Arteta said:
There were a few from that game, especially that in the Champions League you cannot give anything away. Both boxes are tremendously important to have control of the game, and there are going to be moments that can get away very quickly. You have to understand why this is happening and how the game went away from us, but there was a lot in our side. To lose the game the way we did, even though looking about two times, we didn’t deserve that result.
Deserve or not, it was a loss, and we can’t afford another one. There are some questions over how well we’ve been playing this season, and the chance creation, so it would be very useful to put in a performance which ticks both boxes in that regard. Either way, just taking three points back to London, however we manage to earn them, is the most important thing, so fingers crossed.
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This is the first meeting with Sevilla since 2008, and the first time we’ll have met since the untimely death of Jose Antonio Reyes in 2019, a players represented both clubs with distinction. On him, Mikel Arteta said:
I have great memories. He was my roommate [with Spain] and we spent quite a lot of time together. He was a fantastic character with a very special personality and had an incredible football talent. At that age, I can’t recall a better player than him, he had everything. He played for both clubs and he is part of our history in a big way because he was part of the Invincibles as well. Hopefully he’s up there and feeling proud of both clubs, and tomorrow will be a very special night for him.
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In the meantime, there’s an Arsecast Extra recorded for you yesterday, and a little later this morning we’ll have an episode of The 30 on Patreon – looking back at the weekend’s Premier League action, and chatting a bit about the game tonight.
Later we’ll have the live blog, and all the usual bits and pieces on Arseblog News, so for now, take it easy, and we’ll catch you later for the game.
