Unless you owned it Bukayo Saka (£10.2 million), Saturday’s massacre that never happened in the Emirates was a huge disappointment.
Not only was Arsenal’s clean sheet scored late on, but the Gunners’ two goals were both own goals, with Saka assisting on each occasion.
Hardly anyone else registered anything of note Piero Hincapie‘s (£5.5m) last consolation defensive contribution (DefCon) points – a bit of a hollow victory – the one exception.
WHITE INJURY AS SALIBA RETURNS
On Saturday it was one defender in and one out for Arsenal.
William Saliba (£5.9m) was back after a three gameweek absence, but the Gunners lost Ben White (£5.4m) to an early injury.
“Exactly that. Obviously he didn’t play many minutes because of the previous knee problem he had, but the moment he started to gain some momentum he had to play a lot because we had no other solution. We even had to risk Willi.” [Saliba] today because it was probably not their best decision to play 90 minutes because we bought tickets for a new injury, but we have no one else. But yeah, that’s definitely bad news.
“It looks like a hamstring [injury]so we don’t know the extent of that, but we’ll probably know more tomorrow or the day after. – Mikel Arteta on whether Ben White’s issue is an example of the ‘dangerous cycle’ of injuries
Upon Saliba’s return, Hincapie moved to left back with Myles Lewis-Skelly (£5.1 million) left the man despite Riccardo Calafiori (£5.7 million) is suspended.
Above and below images of BBC Sports
When White left, everyone else shuffled into one spot and Lewis-Skelly was brought in at left-back.
Ultimately, every white injury would benefit from this Jurriën Hout (£6.5 million) the most. Back at right-back, where he has already delivered five attacking returns, he would also have to leave his main positional rival. Another player who can provide relief as a full-back, Cristhian Mosquera (£5.4m), is also currently sidelined.
Hincapie’s new (over 400,000 in Gameweek 16) and existing owners will also be hoping for a dismissal from White. With Calafiori back in matchweek 17, Hincapie’s minutes may have looked shaky – remember the Ecuadorian started this match at left back. While there is no absolute guarantee that he will start at Everton, the short-term situation looks brighter if White is sidelined.
Of course he is only a regular in the first team Gabriel Magalhaes (£6.2 million) is not forthcoming.
SAKA GETS TWO ASSISTANTS… FINALLY!
Thanks to these two aforementioned assists, Saka achieved his first double figures in the Emirates in more than a year.
The assist for goal No. 2 was simple enough: a cross from the right, with Yerson Mosquera (£4.3m) nods into its own net.
Goal #1 was more of a story. Saka’s corner hit the crossbar Sam Johnstone (£4.5 million), with the ball then rebounding off the Wolves goalkeeper.
The assist was added and then removed. Eventually it returned and stayed. We’ll let FPL explain:
Saka, the only shining spark at Arsenal on Saturday, is on the right track. It’s six attacking returns in as many games for the winger, with zero in that time – if you count DefCon points against Aston Villa as a return.
CLEAN SHEET BUST
For Arsenal it is only one clean sheet in six league matches, most of which without the injured Gabriel.
In reality, Arsenal’s defensive numbers are still very good even in his absence. The best in the division in terms of expected goals conceded (xGC), in fact, over the last six games:
Saturday’s goal came completely out of the blue, after a ninety-minute header Three Arokodares (£5.4m), which was Wolves’ third and final shot of the match. Hwang Hee-chan (£5.6m) had previously turned down a breakout opportunity, but Arsenal had no further problems.
“We created more chances, scored a goal, but then we had a period of two or three minutes in depth, completely passive, with terrible defensive habits. That’s nowhere near the level required against a team that hasn’t had a single shot. The first time they had the chance to do that, they scored the goal – and this is the Premier League. Unfortunately, we’re relieved because in the end we managed to score a goal and go on to win it, but we definitely need to improve in that sense.” – Mikel Arteta
OFFENSIVE OFF-DAY
This was rather a disappointing performance because of the attack.
A difficult performance against a side without a clean sheet all season, it took 70 minutes to break the deadlock and two own goals to win the match.
set aside, Declan Rice (£7.1m) was probably the best of the rest. His free-kick tested Johnstone, he had a decent header opportunity and his corner should have been nodded in Gabriel Martinelli (£6.8 million). This is pretty much what you would expect from Rice; he will never be an xG machine like some others, but he will make do with returns from different sources. He spent the last half hour here playing uselessly as a ‘six’ as Arsenal chased and sacrificed a win Martin Zubimendi (£5.2 million).
God bless you (£7.8m) was hooked before the hour mark for the second week in a row. If things don’t go well for the Gunners, he will always be one of the first candidates for an early withdrawal. Viktor Gyokeres (£8.8m) showed little to suggest he would break the forward template in the meantime.
A quick word about Wolves, who were more Gameweek 13 (creditable defensive performance away) than Gameweek 15 (horror show against Manchester United).
No FPL manager will be interested in their players, and no one will stop targeting Wolves as a permanent fixture for captaincy. But Rob Edwards will be hoping that three defeats by just one goal in four is some kind of progress, and that United’s defeat was an aberration.
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