After a long an arduous international break we finally got to see our beloved Arsenal in action. It was one of those away trips we used to dread last season. Our abysmal mentality under Wenger meant that we really had no confidence going into games like this, but not under Emery. Another three points in the bag, and that’s three games in a row, including two away. This is fantastic progress, but as always there’s room for improvement and I think with so much talent in midfield the balance is something that we are still struggling with at the moment.

It was a poor first half, probably our worst since the season started. It was only because they were a poor Newcastle side that they did not capitalise on it and we went into the break 0-0. We weren’t seeing the intensity, we weren’t seeing the pressing and we had little to no rhythm when we did have the ball and I’ll be honest, it was kind of boring watching us.

The thing is Wenger has played so many players out of position for so long and has given Emery a squad with so many similar kinds of players it is difficult to form a perfect XI out of them.

We already have the issue of no natural gifted winger in our squad. To have to compensate for it we have our best striker, having to, unfortunately, play out on the left because he’s the best we’ve got in terms of the skillset a winger should have. This is nothing to take away from Lacazette, he’s still a class striker, but the ideal scenario would be an impact striker like Lacazette and an out and out winger feeding Aubameyang at the start. We have Bellerin on the right, who to his credit, has been fantastic in whipping balls in during recent weeks, using his pace and crossing ability, but this has come at the detriment of his defence, and we saw today and it was his side of defence which was responsible for conceding that late goal.

So there’s the balance issue’s we’ve got there, but by far the biggest headache is in midfield. We have gifted natural number 10s in both Ozil and Ramsey. Emery loves them both and insists they both start, but that means one of them has to drift out on to the wing where they are less than effective. Then there’s Xhaka. I just don’t understand Wenger and why he insisted that he use him as a defensive midfielder. He isn’t a pure defensive midfielder, he is a box to box who loves to pick a pass and be given the freedom to bomb forward.

As soon as Torriera came on he could not put a foot wrong, he was fantastic. It was his insightful pass which led to the free kick and led to the all important first goal. Now Xhaka didn’t score that from open play but you can see how free he becomes when he plays alongside Torriera, knowing that he has that security behind him. Both players reach another level when they play together, so this is not just a matter on just one player being better than another its about having the right balance so that the entire team plays together.

This is a massive headache for Emery because we’ve heaped praise on Guendouzi since the start of the season for the way he’s hit the ground running. Watching him feels as though we are watching someone who’s been at Arsenal for many many years, and he really didn’t do much wrong in the first half.

As harsh as it is, I do think our best starting XI is with Torriera in the starting lineup with Guendouzi on the bench. He’s been absolute class every time he’s come on and its nothing against Guendouzi, but Xhaka just reaches another level with Torriera on the pitch and the effect that has means having Torriera on is with 1.5 or 2 men, given Xhaka isn’t invisible anymore.

Europa League is later this week and I’m sure Emery will rotate, but it will be very interesting what happens against Everton next Sunday. We need to keep this momentum going and slow starts cannot keep happening, we will get caught out eventually. Torriera must start, Guendouzi to come on later and it becomes a win-win situation for us.

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