The Telegraph: Trossard should start on Arsenal's bench against Liverpool

The Telegraph - Since Leandro Trossard swapped Brighton blue for Arsenal red in the January transfer window, he has been the most creative player in the Premier League. The Belgian has already registered seven assists for his new club — three more than any other player in that time — and was this week named Arsenal's player of the month for March.

Trossard has thrived on the left wing, the right wing and in a central position, where his understanding of Mikel Arteta's tactical system has made him a superbly effective “false nine”. With his close control in small spaces, his awareness in attack and his execution in the final third, he has been arguably the finest signing of the January transfer window. The initial transfer fee, of £21 million, can already be described as a bargain.

And yet, despite all of this, Trossard surely must start on the bench this weekend, when Arsenal face Liverpool at Anfield in one of the most important games of their campaign. A harsh assessment? It is no slight on Trossard's performances, but instead a reality of Arsenal's development as a club and their current situation under Arteta.

To put it in its simplest terms, four into three will not go. There are three places in Arsenal's frontline, and four players with strong claims to fill them: Trossard, Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Jesus. Assuming all four arrive in Liverpool at full fitness, one must therefore drop to the bench.

Why must it be Trossard? Well, it can't be Martinelli. The Brazilian winger has form for terrorising Liverpool, and Trent Alexander-Arnold in particular, and has been such a nuisance against Jurgen Klopp's team that the German has regularly praised him (often unprompted) in public. When these two teams last met, back in October, Martinelli scored one goal and created another in Arsenal's 3-2 victory.

Martinelli's recent form is even more impressive than Trossard's, too. Since Arsenal's 3-1 defeat by Manchester City in February, the 21-year-old has scored six goals in seven league appearances. Against Liverpool's high defensive line, his pace could be Arsenal's most effective weapon.

It also can't be Saka who drops out. The Englishman is arguably the best player in the Premier League right now, and is both the club's joint-leading goalscorer (13 goals in all competitions) and outright leading assist-maker (10 assists).

To even debate Saka's inclusion is effectively pointless: recent history shows that, when he is fit, he starts. Last weekend, against Leeds United, Saka began the afternoon on the bench because he had missed training through illness — it was the first Premier League game he had not started since December 2021. There is no one that Arteta trusts more.

All of which brings us to Jesus, who is still continuing his recovery from a long-term knee injury. The 4-1 win over Leeds marked the Brazilian's first league start since November, and for 60 minutes he played with an intensity and physicality that Arsenal simply do not possess when he is absent. In the dressing room after the game, in which he scored twice, he was applauded by his team-mates and coaches.

It is hard to overstate the importance of Jesus to the psyche of this Arsenal team, and it is also hard to overstate the size of the mental challenge facing Arteta's players this weekend.

This may not be the most formidable Liverpool side of recent years but Klopp's team have won five of their last six home games in the league, and have won the last three of those by an aggregate score of 11-0. Meanwhile, Arsenal's record at Anfield is pathetic: they have lost their last six league games there, conceding 22 goals in total (at least three in each game).

Jesus, along with Oleksandr Zinchenko, was signed to address those frailties. Part of it is leadership, but there is also something deeper than that. It is the Brazilian's presence, experience and attitude that has made such a difference to this squad this season. From the moment he walked through the doors in north London, he told his team-mates to fear no one and insisted they were good enough to win the league title. Only a few months into the season, with Jesus leading the way, did many of the players start to believe he was right.

It is a measure of his influence at Arsenal that Jesus was promoted to the leadership group, alongside Martin Odegaard and Granit Xhaka, within weeks of his £45million move from City last summer. He is a winner of multiple Premier League titles and a warrior on the pitch. If there is ever an occasion for such a player, and for his fearlessness, it is this one.

Trossard happens to be the unfortunate soul who should therefore miss out (provided Jesus is deemed fit enough to start) despite the fact that he scored a hat-trick at Anfield for Brighton earlier this season. The role of super-sub suits him, though, given his versatility in attack.

Such selection dilemmas are, of course, what Klopp and Pep Guardiola have grown used to over the past few years. When their players are all available, both managers are forced to leave at least one world-class forward on their bench for every game. Until Trossard's arrival, Arteta has simply not had that strength of depth in his squad.

By Arsenal's recent standards, it is a luxury to have four players of such quality competing for only three positions. The team no longer picks itself every week, and the squad is growing as one. This is what Arsenal want, and this is how they plan to compete for titles in the years to come. It makes for tough decisions for Arteta, but better results for the team.