Arsenal’s Wednesday night dismantling of Coventry City was a good exercise for everybody involved (unless you’re a Sky Blue, of course). Each and every Arsenal player put in a good performance and some fringe players put in excellent performances. The kind of performances, that will doubtless have Arsene Wenger pondering whether he should be giving them a bigger role.
Olivier Giroud grabbed a goal (and missed a penalty) that should provide him with a little more confidence in his Premier League outings. Emmanuel Frimpong played his first game since 2006 (not accurate). Somebody called Martin Angha played as a right-back (and looked pretty good). But, the most telling contributions came from Andrey Arshavin and Theo Walcott.
These are both players with something to prove. Andrey Arshavin hasn’t had a presence in this Arsenal side for almost two seasons now. The odd game aside, he’s been a lackluster, confidence-shorn, chubby-wreck. Many thought his Arsenal career was over. Turns out, he’s still hanging about.
Theo Walcott and his agent are playing fast and loose with his contract situation. Despite having less than a year on his contract, Arsene Wenger let him stay at the club this summer. I’m not sure why, when he was willing to let Robin Van Persie go, but, for better, for worse, Theo’s here ‘til January at least. We don’t know what his future holds and until last Wednesday, we didn’t know if he’d have a role to play for the Gunners this season.
He scored two fantastic goals (particularly the second, where he seemed to be temporarily possessed by the spirit of Thierry Henry) and looked lively the entire night. Arshavin, meanwhile, dominated in the centre of the pitch. He won a penalty, grabbed an assist and scored a goal. Not a bad night’s work!
Both players have also been played out of position by Arsene Wenger. They’ve both been deployed out wide, whilst harbouring a desire to play in field (Theo as a striker, Andrey as a midfielder). Theo has made his desire to play upfront quite clear. I haven’t heard Arshavin complain yet.
Whilst Theo’s contract situation remains unresolved, I feel like Arshavin should be the player Arsene puts his trust in. Not as a first teamer (not just yet, anyway), but as somebody who can come off the bench and do a job.
Theo has to earn that right back. Arshavin, however, opted to stay with Arsenal when there were offers on the table from Russian clubs. He wants to prove himself, so maybe Arsene should let him.
What’s your take? Should Arshavin be given a run in the team?
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