Arsenal: Mohamed Elneny Suddenly Crucial Piece To Success
Arsenal’s depth in the midfield is dwindling with the loss of Coquelin and the slow recovery of Ramsey. That means that Mohamed Elneny is a major player.
Arsenal‘s depth in the midfield was so stunning that Jack Wilshere had to be sent out on loan. There was no room for him. Aaron Ramsey’s injury delay was no big deal either – we can cope. There are so many options.
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But now that Francis Coquelin is out, we are looking at a midfield base of just Cazorla, Xhaka and Elneny. That is mildly alarming. Not full-on, hit the panic button alarming. But alarming.
It means that Cazorla and Xhaka will take over primary responsibilities in major competitions and Elneny will be the anchor to hold down any secondary competitions.
As much as I don’t exactly focus on the EFL Cup or the FA Cup, it was nice to think of the experience we would have in those competitions. But now, with Ramsey out until at after the international break at least and Coquelin likely out for much longer, we have to consider who has to step up.
That falls on Mohamed Elneny. The Egyptian was wearing a suit behind the subs against Chelsea, but he won’t be without his kit any time soon. Not in the current injury situation. In fact, he is going to be the engine that drives Arsenal’s secondary competitions.
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Oddly enough, I don’t feel any less confident in Arsenal’s abilities to compete, even factoring in this new reliance on Elneny. He showed last year that he is a reliable resource. He may not excel at any one area like all of his midfield mates do, but he is a very well-rounded midfielder with the capacity to do a lot of things fairly well.
It will be interesting to see who Wenger turns to to partner with Elneny in this midweek matches. No doubt he doesn’t want to risk Xhaka or Cazorla, but they may have to be. Whatever the case, at least we know that Elneny can be relied upon to do the majority of the workload while his partner grinds out 60 minutes or so at the office before giving way to a sub.
This is far from an injury crisis. A crisis would mean that there is something to worry about. Ramsey will be back soon and then we are back to normal. Until that time, we should have full faith in Elneny to carry the load.
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