Arsenal are set to have their first match back now that the coronavirus-induced halting of proceedings has come to an end. The fixture is going to occur this coming Wednesday against Manchester city away from home. As expected, the excitement around the return of Arsenal has lead to many and most gooners into talking about possible tactics and moreover, lineups for the upcoming brawl. One player I believe has not been mentioned enough in the conversation over possible starting eleven’s is that of the hale end academy graduate, Joe Willock. In my opinion, the youngster should start on the day over that of Mesut Ozil, here are three reasons why.
1. Willock’s Wonderful Workrate:
Before any Ozil fanboys chime in with the ever predictable, “Ozil covers more ground than N’golo Kante on a kangaroo” argument, let me describe what I mean. While it is true that Ozil finishes most matches with a deceptively large amount of distance covered, most of it is relatively insignificant. The German will meander back to the defensive side of the pitch, however he does not actually contribute much defensively at all.
In 18 appearances this season he has only made 17 tackles and only 47% of which were successful. Ozil has a blatant inability to win tackles and Mikel Arteta’s men need aggression if they want any chance of overcoming Pep Guardiola’s machine. In 19 appearances in the premier league (13 being as a sub), Willock has managed 18 tackles with a 61% success rate, and while the difference may sound meager, it is actually quite large. Willock, if given the chance on the day, would undoubtedly put every effort he has forward on the attacking and defensive side of the pitch.
Ozil’s nonchalance can certainly be useful in some games given how in any given moment he can find a killer ball unexpectedly and leave the opposition caught out. However, against the current premier league champions a side needs an industrious player like Willock in the hole in order to have any prayer against their incredible midfield three.
2. Willock: A more potent goal threat
While it may be too soon to deem the 20-year-old the heir to Aaron Ramsey, it’s certainly obvious why people classify him as such. The English youngster’s strongest suit is definitely his goal scoring ability. While on many occasions his decision making can be quite poor, he also has no shortage of confidence and will never shy away from having an audacious pop at goal.
Given how difficult City’s midfield is to penetrate with the likes of Fernandinho generalling it, this can give us an avenue to create chances in unconventional and inadvertent ways like getting more corner kicks for example. Furthermore, Willock’s late runs could be made to be more effective given the fact that Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre Emerick Aubameyang will most likely be tightly marked given how dangerous they can be.
Meanwhile, Ozil almost never shoots. While the pair have each taken the exact same amount of shots in the Premier league this season, in all competitions the 20-year-old, Willock has 4 goals while Ozil has only 1. In fact, in Arsenal’s two recent friendly matches Willock managed goals in both games. The good goal scoring form in which he showed against admittedly far inferior sides could still nonetheless be an argument in it of itself for Willock to play over Ozil against City.
3. The surprise factor: Guardiola could be blindsided
The fact is, Pep surely expects his former pupil, Arteta to deploy Ozil from the start. Arteta seems quite fond of the German world cup winner and Guardiola, in all of his intelligence is surely aware of this. If our new head coach was to instead opt for Willock over that of his preferred starting number 10, his former boss would be massively surprised, and furthermore blindsided. The Manchester city manager is most likely plotting ways to put a blockade to stop the Ozil supply line, but if the German is not played, then the former Barcelona man would have deployed said shield for no reason.
The upcoming fixture is massive for Arsenal and Arteta as well. It will surely be his trickiest test as the head coach so far, and playing a youngster like Willock over that of a typical starter like Ozil could be the brave move that sees the gunners manage something from the sure to be, incredibly difficult affair.
To Conclude: Though I sincerely doubt Willock will play in place of Ozil, Arteta taking such a gamble and deploying the aforementioned youngster in ozil’s place may make more sense than many would like to admit.
Daniel Finton
Proud Floridian ginger being physically burned by the sun and mentally by Arsenal. I like to write stuff and try to be funny, sometimes it comes off.
