Emile Smith-Rowe had a breakthrough campaign in the 2021/22 season, latching onto Gabriel Martinelli’s long term injury, making the left flank his for keeps. His opening goal of the campaign came in the North London Derby, scoring and assisting in the 3-1 victory over the old enemy, Tottenham. He continued the good scoring form with goals in quick succession against Aston Villa, Leicester and Watford, further cementing his status in the first team. The streak continued when he scored Manchester United, Leeds and Norwich before scoring against Brentford. His 10th goal in the Premier League came against Chelsea and Smith-Rowe ended the season on a career-high 11 goals, narrowly missing out of the Player of the Year award to Bukayo Saka.

Last season, however, didn’t turn out well for Smith-Rowe. He had carried a groin injury for quite some time, using injections and drugs not to feel it, but in the game against Manchester United in Old Trafford, Smith-Rowe, who came on as a sub, attempted to fire a shot and tore something in his groin. Further medical evaluation was done and Smith-Rowe had to go under the knife to mitigate the issue once and for all.  The injury recovery and rehabilitation kept Smith-Rowe out of the team till the new year, with the attacking midfielder making his comeback in the 3-0 thrashing of Oxford United in the FA Cup. There was a moment in that game where Smith-Rowe had a chance to execute a finish, but his rustiness was on show, but he managed to get 15 minutes under his belt unscathed. 

Following the substitute appearance against Oxford United in January 2023, Smith-Rowe didn’t feature in the first team till March, playing a meager eight minutes against Everton. In the very next game against Bournemouth, Smith-Rowe came on as a sub for the injured Leandro Trossard, played 47 minutes and was substituted for the last-gasp goalscoring hero, Reiss Nelson. In the next 12 games in the season, Smith-Rowe didn’t come off the bench seven times, and in the five times he managed to feature, he only made substitute appearances – seven minutes against Crystal Palace, five minutes against Leeds, 19 minutes against Manchester City, 13 minutes against Brighton and 15 minutes in the season ending clash against Wolves.

Despite featuring sparingly for the entirety of the campaign, Arsenal made it clear that Smith-Rowe is not for sale, and the Arsenal midfielder also stated that he intends to fight for his place in the team,

“I just want to be on the pitch. This was the hardest season of my career.

“It was tough, but we were in a title race and I understand the manager isn’t going to change the team if we’re winning every game”.

“I just tried to stay positive and train as well as I could. The other players and Mikel [Arteta] were great with me, kept me feeling connected. But it was tough, a long season. I won’t lie.”

Smith-Rowe was called up by Lee Carsley for the U-21 European Championships, which offered him a chance to gain some much needed fitness ahead of the forthcoming campaign. He was on the bench in England U-21s first game against the Czech Republic U-21s, came on as a sub, and scored the goal that clinched the contest in the 94 minutes. Carsley rewarded Smith-Rowe with a start against Israel U-21s, scoring another brilliant goal before he was substituted for Liverpool’s Harvey Elliot. England U-21s have advanced to the quarterfinals with their two victories, but have one more Group Stage clash against Germany U-21s, and Smith-Rowe will be expected to play a part in that fixture.

Smith-Rowe is adept on the left wing and attacking midfield, but with Trossard and Martinelli ahead of him in the pecking order in No. 11 position, I see Smith-Rowe as Martin Odegaard’s backup as a No. 10, as he has come on as a sub for Odegaard several times last season. There has been some talk of re-training him as a left 8, but with Granit Xhaka leaving, Kai Havertz is coming to take that spot and Fabio Vieira will be his deputy.

We need Smith-Rowe to step up in the new campaign, as Arsenal has four different competitions to feature in next season, and hopefully, the real Smith-Rowe, the one we know, would stand up.

Sayonara.

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