To compete in the Premier League, you need more than 11 brilliant players, since you may have to rely on your bench to make the difference at times. So far this season, 19 English Premier League clubs have profited from goals by replacements. Nonetheless, just five of them have had five or more goals by substitutes. Looking at the list, Arsenal leads (together with Brighton) in goals scored by substitutes, with seven.
Takehiro Tomiyasu, Gabriel Jesus, Eddie Nketiah, Gabriel Martinelli, Fábio Vieira, and Leandro Trossard all scored for Arsenal after coming on as substitutes. Notably, Leandro Trossard is the only one of the six to have scored two goals after being introduced as a substitute this season. Surprisingly, the Belgian also has an assist to his name as a sub.
Mikel Arteta recently spoke of the significance of his substitutes and what they bring to the table. He emphasized the value of the five substitutes per match allowance and the advantages of the “strict” extra time adopted by the league.
“I think there are two main factors. One is when we went from three to five subs; obviously, that gives managers a lot of ability to change as well as the course of the game”, said the Arsenal boss, as per Hayters TV.
“And then obviously, the extended time that we are playing now, the 100 minutes, over 100 minutes that we are playing, when you are getting subbed on in the 70th minute, you’re almost playing half an hour, you know, and that’s a lot.
“It’s one-third of the game. And also, the players understanding the importance of that role, and we want to be there.
“We are going to need everybody at their best to try to change games, to try to load games, to try to rotate the team and have the freshness in every department. And they’ve been brilliant at that.”
The fact that Arsenal can score goals from the bench demonstrates the high quality of the Arsenal squad. Last season, a lackluster squad proved to be their undoing. So far this season, their quality squad has not only been able to change games with substitutions, but they have also been able to deal with a glut of injuries.
Hopefully, the Gunners, who are third on the table, a point behind league leaders Manchester City, will maintain their excellent form and continue to fly after the international break and hopefully get some of the players back from the treatment table.
Darren N
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