Arsenal\u2019s strength off the bench was on full display as substitutes combined to extend the lead. Martinelli had been teed up by fellow substitute Leandro Trossard, who subsequently doubled Arsenal\u2019s advantage thanks to an assist from none other than Martinelli.<\/p>\n
Mikel Arteta underlined the value of his replacements after the game. \u201cI looked on the bench, I looked at him [Martinelli], and in his eyes I could see that he was ready,\u201d Arteta gushed post-game. \u201cLeo as well. I think that\u2019s going to help us a lot for the future.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat shows that they [substitutes] are at least equally important or more important as anyone in this squad. That the finishers are going to be more important this season than the starters.\u201d<\/p>\n
Former Arsenal forward Thierry Henry echoed that assessment and placed Arsenal\u2019s depth among the game\u2019s elite. \u201cRight now, I will say that nobody has a team as deep as Arsenal , in terms of the quality they can have,\u201d the Frenchman declared in his capacity as a pundit for CBS Sports. \u201cSome teams can give them a good run for the starting XI, but if you look at the team itself, it\u2019s almost two teams. When you see who is on the bench tonight and you\u2019re still missing [Martin] \u00d8degaard, Kai Havertz, Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Jesus… when you look at that, the team is well-equipped to play in all competitions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Henry also warned that such resources heighten the demands on the squad. \u201cNow let\u2019s all be honest,\u201d Henry noted, \u201cit\u2019s a must this year to win something. It\u2019s a must. You can\u2019t hide.\u201d<\/p>\n
That combination of on-field contributions from substitutes and clear public expectation frames the season ahead. Arteta\u2019s rotation delivered a decisive impact in the match and the comments from Henry underline that the calibre of options available brings both opportunity and pressure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Henry says Arsenal’s squad depth is unmatched but raises the expectation that silverware is required<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2860,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[192,969],"tags":[826,1019,1034],"class_list":["post-2861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal","category-premier-league","tag-bukayo-saka","tag-creative-players","tag-emerging-talent"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2861"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2861\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}