Arshavin Justifies Trinity Talk With Emirates Double

We’ve long suspected that Andrey Arshavin could threaten to fill the void left by Christiano Ronaldo in the fantasy football “holy trinity” midfield. The Russian has been re-classified in a midfield role by many of the fantasy games after figuring in a wide position for much of his Arsenal career thus far. Yesterday he offered further confirmation that he could well rival the fantasy returns of the trinity’s established members – Lampard and Gerrard.

Arshavin’s two goals in the final four minutes Arsenal’s Emirates Cup 2-1 win over Athletico Madrid put him firmly back on our radars, with just a fortnight to go before we press the button on our initial lineups…

There can be no doubts over Arshavin’s impact in yesterday’s game. Similarly, based on last season’s returns (6 goals and 8 assists in just 12 league starts), we can have little concern over Arshavin’s quality as a fantasy purchase. Last season’s points per game output was impressive and that was generated from a wide position.

With Adebayor’s departure, there’s every chance that Arshavin will get more opportunities to drift into a more influential central role, particularly with Wenger appearing to settle on a 4-3-3 formation which is likely to see Arshavin flanking Van Persie for much of the season. Indeed, in his post-match comments yesterday, Wenger stressed that he sees Arshavin’s role increasing this term.

“The difference is now he knows how English football works…he understands when there is an opportunity in the final third, and is certainly dangerous. I believe he can have a big impact his season.”

The concern with Arsenal, like so many of the top sides, is the options available to the manager. Wenger may have lost Adebayor as an alternative up front but if he persists with two wider attackers in support of a central striker, then he still has plenty of options. Walcott, Eboue, Bendtner, Vela, Rosicky, and even Wilshire who sparkled against Madrid yesterday, could all be employed in these flanking roles, aside from Arshavin. Rotation prior and following Champions League games is likley to be a concern all season for us.

Indeed, with such resources, Wenger himself expressed concern over acheiving a balance in the last third of the pitch.

“To play with Arshavin, Fabregas and Walcott and find the balance is very difficult. Our target is to now find a good balance with the offensive players we have, and that is why we could afford to let a striker go.”

With Walcott also classed as a midfielder in some games this term, Wenger’s first choice lineup could be central to our fantasy lineups. The Arsenal boss is set to rotate his side over the two Emirates Cup matches, so despite fielding a strong side on Saturday, we can expect changes for the second game against Rangers this afternoon. That should see a start for Arshavin and another opportunity for him to reinforce his role in Wenger’s lineup to promote himself further in our thinking.

Should Arshavin produce against Rangers, then the task of establishing the new “holy trinity” of midfielders in our lineups is likely to begin in earnest.

The only caveat to this possibility early on in the season, could be Arsenal’s missing fixture in gameweek 2, plus their relatively tough start to the season over the first five games. The fixture list appears to give us breathing space on the Arshavin decision then – although, should his form continue going into the Everton game in a fortnight, there are likely to be some willing to gamble on Arsenal’s run of fixtures.