Fantasy Premier League’s (FPL) third-most-owned defender, William Saliba (£6.3m), was absent as Arsenal’s title bid suffered yet another blow on Saturday.
We pick the bones out of Aston Villa’s comeback draw at the Emirates in our first Gameweek 22 Scout Notes.
SALIBA INJURY
While Saliba’s 27.7% ownership is slightly distorted due to long-abandoned teams, he nevertheless finds himself in around 15% of active squads – so he’s still a semi-popular pick.
A muscular injury was cited as the reason behind the Frenchman’s absence on Saturday. His sprint upfield in the dying minutes of the north London derby on Wednesday might well have been the cause.
As you’d expect from Mikel Arteta, the Arsenal boss didn’t offer much detail – and based on experience, we cannot expect a lot of it in upcoming press conferences.
“Not yet, I think tomorrow we will have more information, we will have more tests on him and we will be more clear about it.
“Yes, for sure [I am worried], especially with the numbers we have in the squad and looking at our bench. Very worried.” – Mikel Arteta on whether he has any more information about William Saliba
Jurrien Timber (£5.7m) filled in at centre-half alongside Gabriel Magalhaes (£6.4m) and was solid. The problem with Timber relocating was that Thomas Partey (£5.0m) had to play as an inverted right-back, a tactic that tends to have mixed results. One win in six league games when using it, in fact.
Failure to adequately track runners (Partey being culpable for the second) led to the two Villa goals. It’s now just four clean sheets in 18 league matches for Arsenal – and yet, they’re still the stingiest team for expected goals conceded (xGC) in that time (15.62).
You’d also hope for at least two clean sheets from the next four Gameweeks:
JOY FOR THE ATTACK
It makes a change for Arsenal’s defence to be under the spotlight. For the last few weeks, it’s firmly been on the attack.
Credit where credit’s due, as Leandro Trossard (£6.8m), Gabriel Martinelli (£6.7m) and Kai Havertz (£7.8m) all contributed attacking returns on Saturday. The two wingers especially caused trouble, with Trossard delivering two excellent crosses for his fellow attackers to score. He finished the game top for both shots (six) and chances created (three).
Martinelli looked a threat from the right, too, although he was ably assisted by Unai Emery’s curious decision to start Ian Maatsen (£4.5m) at left-back.
Inconsistency is one of the main deterrents to those three Gunners; it was only a week ago that they were being derided for their part in Arsenal’s FA Cup exit at the hands of 10-man Manchester United.
And even with Bukayo Saka (£10.2m), Ethan Nwaneri (£4.5m) and Gabriel Jesus (£6.7m) out, Arteta still finds a way to make them minutes risks – as evidenced by Martinelli’s benching in Gameweek 21.
EMERY ON WATKINS/DURAN
A minutes risk is also what Ollie Watkins (£8.9m) has been for the last few weeks and months. Jhon Duran‘s (£5.8m) emergence has made the former 90-minute man too rich for most FPL managers’ blood.
In fact, just seconds before Watkins scored the equaliser at the Emirates, he was about to get the hook.
“Yes, yes, I wanted to change with fresh players like Jhon Duran but after his goal, I tried to take my time as well to find again my target with the minutes we were playing.”
“Of course, both strikers are helping us. Again, Jhon Duran has to be playing minutes.” – Unai Emery on whether he was about to take Ollie Watkins off when he scored
Watkins ran the channels well here and was a threat, the main problem being Villa’s inability to support him on breakaways. His goal was well taken, and he’s now got 10 for the season in just 18 starts. Not bad, really.
If this were last season, we’d be all over Watkins given the above upcoming run. But with Duran still lingering, and with two midweek European fixtures to come in the next 10 days, there’ll always be that uncertainty over game-time.
Morgan Rogers (£5.5m), who has started every league game he’s been available for this season, will be enough Villa representation for most.
WHY MAATSEN STARTED OVER DIGNE
Maatsen’s inclusion was an odd one, given that he’d started just two league games all season – both home fixtures against sides in the bottom three. He’s generally been someone Emery has turned to later on in games, to provide an attacking spark from left-back.
So to see him included at the Emirates, even taking into account Arsenal’s injuries, was a surprise.
We witnessed the good and bad: one run and shot that David Raya (£5.6m) repelled but plenty of scares from Martinelli at the other end, culminating in a goal from the Brazilian when he evaded Maatsen’s attention.
The Dutch defender, on a booking, was hooked at the break – and Lucas Digne (£4.6m) responded with a solid showing in his place.
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Emery: “We want through Maatsen and Cash to get wide and deep in attack. We did more with Maatsen. And then defensively, it was very difficult and we struggled with Martinelli. A yellow card for Maatsen – this was the argument for why I changed him. Lucas was fantastic.” #AVFC
— Jacob Tanswell (@J_Tanswell) January 18, 2025
Emery praised both his left-backs after the game but this was definitely a ‘win’ for Digne, who also supplied the assist for Youri Tielemans‘ (£5.5m) header.
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