Arsenal have plenty of attacking talent at the club and Mikel Arteta will need to rely on his squad with the Champions League group stages on the horizon
Mikel Arteta can look to unleash Arsenal star Fabio Vieira after the international break as the Gunners prepare for a return to Champions League action. The Portuguese midfielder has impressed in brief spells after coming on as a substitute against Fulham and Manchester United in recent weeks.
The 23-year-old is even outperforming the likes of Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland in key areas with his cameo appearances. Vieira completed a £34million move to the Emirates Stadium last summer but failed to nail down a place in the starting XI on a consistent basis.
Speaking after the dramatic 3-1 win against United on Sunday, Arteta was asked whether Vieira could be handed more game time after the international break with the fixture schedule becoming increasingly congested. The Arsenal boss responded: "Every player has a chance.
"We decided to start with Kai [Havertz], but we knew Fabio [Vieira] would have a huge impact - especially in the final minutes if we needed something. Something has changed with Fabio, you notice it from how he was last year.
"He's more mature, he's more of a senior in the squad and his confidence is high. So, I'm really happy to have those options."
Vieira provided the assist for Gabriel Jesus' winning goal as the two substitutes combined to secure the three points for the Gunners. The 23-year-old is a standout performer when compared to other Under-23 stars across Europe for progressive passes and expected assists per 90 minutes so far this season.
Vieira has registered eight progressive passes per 90 minutes along with an expected assists (xA) value of 0.39 per 90. This is higher than the likes of Mbappe, Florian Wirtz, Dominik Szoboszlai and Mason Mount so far this season.
Only Liverpool's Cody Gakpo has a higher xA (0.4) than Vieira, whilst Trent Alexander-Arnold (8.7) and Orkun Kokcu (10) have more progressive passes per 90. Vieira is outperforming some world-class talents across Europe and Arteta is clearly aware of his ability - which may see him be unleashed in the coming weeks as Arsenal face a busy run of fixtures.