3 talking points ahead of Arsenal vs Aston Villa: Martinez returns

Who starts in the midfield?

If I would have told you this a few seasons ago, you would have bitten my head off. But nowadays, Arsenal find themselves with TOO MANY excellent midfielders, to the point where fans don’t know who Arteta will start anymore. Mohamed Elneny and Thomas Partey were excellent against Manchester United, but Dani Ceballos and Granit Xhaka’s class cannot be undermined.

In my predicted XI, I assumed that it would be a midfield three of Xhaka, Partey and Elneny with Ceballos coming from the bench if Arsenal need more of an attacking edge as the game progresses. But it could still go either way, and no matter who is benched, one would feel like it’s hard done by.

I’m certainly not complaining, of course. It’s a nice problem to have.

Either way, Arsenal will need to have their best midfield possible, with a balance of both attack and defence. Of course, they will likely come up against Jack Grealish, who is never an easy midfielder to defend against, so the defence will need all the help they can get from the midfield. I’m certain Arteta will be well aware of this.