Arsenal’s tense draw at Atletico Madrid on Wednesday was far from the swashbuckling nine-goal thriller we saw in Paris the previous night.
However, there’s still plenty to talk about from a Fantasy Premier League (FPL) point of view as the Gunners prepare to face Fulham in Gameweek 35.
MATCH FACTS
- Result: Atletico Madrid 1-1 Arsenal
- Goal: Gyokeres (pen)
- Assist: None
- Line-up: Raya; White (Mosquera 86), Saliba, Gabriel, Hincapie; Odegaard (Eze 58), Rice, Zubimendi; Madueke (Saka 68), Gyokeres (Jesus 69), Martinelli (Trossard 68)
- Changes from Gameweek 34: 2 (Havertz + Eze out; Gyokeres + Martinelli in)
A GAME OF THREE PENALTIES…
Wednesday’s match at the Metropolitano included a spot-kick for both clubs.
It was a third, overturned penalty that may have had the biggest impact on this tie, though.
1 – GYOKERES NETS
A minute before half-time, Viktor Gyokeres (£8.8m) went down under a challenge from David Hancko, which Atleti thought was soft. The referee disagreed, a penalty was awarded, and Gyokeres dispatched it confidently.
2 – ALVAREZ LEVELS
But the hosts got their revenge 11 minutes into the second half as a VAR review awarded them a penalty, after Marcos Llorente’s shot hit the leg and then the hand of Ben White (£5.1m). Julian Alvarez drew Atleti level from the spot.
“In the Premier League, it’s not a penalty, but here I have to accept that with the rules and how consistent they’ve been, for example, yesterday with Bayern Munich, I accept that this is a handball.” – Mikel Arteta on the penalty conceded by Ben White
3 – EZE DENIED
The Gunners boss was far less understanding of the officials’ decision to overturn an on-field penalty decision following another VAR review. Eberechi Eze (£7.2m) beat Hancko to the ball in the box late on and proceeded to hit the turf following contact between the two men:
“What I am incredibly fuming with, is how the penalty on Ebs gets overturned in the manner that it happened, when it’s not a clear and obvious error – this changes the course of the game. At this level, I’m sorry, but this cannot happen.” – Mikel Arteta
GYOKERES IMPROVEMENT
Gyokeres’ well-taken penalty was his only shot but this was one of his better displays in an Arsenal shirt.
“I think [Gyokeres] had a very strong first half, especially when we were more dominant. He created the goal and the penalty, and he was ice-cool to score it in the manner that he did. The second half changed a little bit, credit to them, but there are a lot of things that we need to do much, much, much better, and I think then we had to change. I think the game changed as well, and we ended up finishing on top.” – Mikel Arteta on Viktor Gyokeres’ performance
Kai Havertz (£7.3m) – the preferred man up top in Arsenal’s previous two outings – was ruled out of this midweek match with a muscle injury picked up last weekend.
We await an update from Arteta ahead of Gameweek 35 but Gyokeres may get a chance to build on Wednesday’s improved performance.
SAKA + EZE SUBS – WILL THEY START IN GAMEWEEK 35?
Arteta changed his entire attacking quartet between the 58th and 69th minutes.
Martin Odegaard (£7.8m) was replaced first. Eze, who recovered from his own “muscular niggle” that forced him off in Gameweek 34, came on. Noni Madueke (£6.8m), Gabriel Martinelli (£6.8m) and Gyokeres then made way for Bukayo Saka (£9.8m), Leandro Trossard (£6.5m) and Gabriel Jesus (£6.4m).
Whatever combination Arteta has used, Arsenal’s attack has largely failed to click recently. But to give the “finishers” – Arteta’s term for his subs – some credit, the Gunners did appear to wake up after the denial of their second penalty.
Six of their 11 shots came from the 84th minute onwards, following a period of 40 minutes without one.
Saka looked bright on the right wing, despite a lack of end product, after Madueke had faded. Eze, too, caught the eye.
Saka’s return and Eze’s evident recovery add more bodies to the mix for rotation, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see both men start in Gameweek 35. Saka now has successive sub appearances under his belt, so he’s inching closer to Arteta’s line-up.
“They’ve done really well already to be available, and then, let’s see for how long we can use them.” – Mikel Arteta on Bukayo Saka and Eberechi Eze, speaking ahead of kick-off on Wednesday
RICE DEEPER AFTER MIDFIELD TWEAK
There were only two changes to last weekend’s XI, as Gyokeres and Martinelli replaced Havertz and Eze.
However, Arteta shaped his midfield trio in a slightly different way than that which we’ve seen for most of the season.
Namely, Declan Rice (£7.2m) – usually a box-to-box all-rounder these days – was deployed in a deeper-lying ‘No6’ role. That gave Martin Zubimendi (£5.0m) more freedom to get forward as the ‘No8’. Odegaard, until he was replaced by Eze just before the hour mark, was the most advanced of the three.
That Rice-Zubimendi switch seemed to work relatively well, too. Rice was heavily involved, pulling strings in the build-up and defending strongly. His 57 touches in the first half were the most on the pitch and he completed 53 of his 55 passes.
If this continues, it could further impact Rice’s already diminishing open-play threat in FPL, but it may help boost his defensive contribution (DefCon) success rate.
Rice didn’t create a single chance (not helped by a lack of corners for Arsenal), while his two shots – both from distance – carried a total xG of 0.04.
DEFENCE LARGELY SETTLED (FOR NOW)
Riccardo Calafiori (£5.6m) joined Saka in returning to the bench, having missed Arsenal’s previous four outings. The Italian remained an unused substitute as Piero Hincapie (£5.1m) continued at left-back.
On the other flank, there was still no sign of Jurrien Timber (£6.1m). Arteta said in his pre-match press conference on Tuesday that the club “don’t know” when he’ll be back.
Barring a rapid recovery, that suggests one of White or Cristhian Mosquera (£5.3m) will continue at right-back against Fulham. The pair have taken two-game turns recently, with the former starting here and against Newcastle after the latter did so in the matches prior against Man City and Sporting.
Mosquera had a good chance for a winner late on here but hit his effort straight at Jan Oblak.
It was another stubborn display from the Gunners at the back, with David Raya (£6.0m), Gabriel Magalhaes (£7.2m) and Hincapie particularly impressive. Only a penalty that wouldn’t have been given in the Premier League deprived them of yet another clean sheet.
