Arsenal got back to winning ways as they cruised past Newcastle United 4-0 on Sunday courtesy of goals from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Nicolas Pepe, Mesut Ozil and Alexandre Lacazette which blew away the visitors.
One of the surprising decisions from manager Mikel Arteta ahead of the game was the fact that Matteo Guendouzi was not part of the match day squad.
When queried by Sky Sports‘ Geoff Shreeves on why Guendouzi was left out, Arteta said before kickoff:
“It was a tactical decision.”
However, according to reports in Mirror, the reason behind this move was that Arteta was not impressed with what he saw from the midfielder in the training camp held in Dubai.
This saw a return to the starting eleven for Spanish midfielder Dani Ceballos who impressed with his passing and dribbling. Speaking at the post match press conference, Arteta said:
“Dani Ceballos is a good example. He was injured and when he started to train I didn’t think he was fit enough. He completely changed his behavior and trained like an animal. I thought he was the best player on the pitch.”
Matteo has been a constant feature in the team and has looked quite impressive whenever he’s on the pitch. However, it seems the Spanish boss was more impressed with what he saw from Ceballos and that gave him an edge over Guendouzi.
The Europa League game versus Olympiacos on Thursday will be an opportunity for the Frenchman to make a comeback. It is good for the manager to have all these options at his disposal.
It allows Arteta to change the combination in the midfield as he sees fit. This makes it possible to play different teams with the midfield strength that Arsenal posses. Arsenal will want to take the same momentum into the Europa League fixture.
Guendouzi will get more chances to show the manager what he is made of. The winter break and training camp in Dubai seems to have refreshed the players and that bodes well for the rest of the season.
