Arsenal’s underwhelming season has retained a radiant silver lining – opinion
Arsenal's Spanish head coach Mikel Arteta (R) shakes hands with his players on the pitch after the English FA Cup fourth round football match between Bournemouth and Arsenal at the Vitality Stadium in Bournemouth, southern England on January 27, 2020. - Arsenal won the game 2-1. (Photo by Glyn KIRK / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No video emulation. Social media in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No use in betting publications, games or single club/league/player publications. / (Photo by GLYN KIRK/AFP via Getty Images)
On the whole, the 2019/20 season has been a predominantly forgettable one for Arsenal, even with 14 Premier League games remaining.
The Gunners currently occupy the tenth spot in the top-flight and have struggled for consistency in their results all season long. At the same time, there has also been Granit Xhaka’s stripping of the captaincy and other off-field issues, such as Mesut Ozil’s tweets. Even the sacking of Unai Emery has made little difference, with Mikel Arteta having overseen just one win in the Premier League. However, there has been a noticeable positive amongst the doom and gloom, and that ray of hope is the catalogue of academy graduates who have steadily made themselves an integral part of the squad.
Bukayo Saka, Joseph Willock and Reiss Nelson have all been accumulating Premier League appearances along with teen sensation Gabriel Martinelli. When they have been trusted with seeing Arsenal through games, the youngest members of the squad have stepped up to the plate and delivered, the most recent example of which came against A.F.C Bournemouth in the FA Cup fourth round. The Gunners ran out 2-1 winners, but after just 26 minutes Saka, Martinelli and Eddie Nketiah all had a hand in putting Arsenal well clear of their opponents.
In total, this season Arsenal’s U21 contingency have made an enormous 79 appearances in the Premier League alone. Only Manchester United have named a younger starting eleven this season than Arsenal’s for their match with Everton; Freddie Ljungberg’s final game as caretaker boss. For that goalless draw, the Gunners had an average age of 24.2 throughout their starting eleven.
It is fantastic that so many players who still have a tremendous amount of time to develop are being allowed to thrive on the pitch. However, it does raise questions about the ability of their more senior squad members, who are being kept out.
The youthful vigour within the Emirates Stadium is likely to be providing an air of optimism for new boss Arteta: that he may not need to spend big and can instead mould the talent at his disposal. While this season has been mostly disappointing for the Gunners, all the experience being soaked up by their youngest squad members could be the foundation for future success in North London.