With Aaron Ramsey sidelined for a minimum of four weeks, Arsenal’s midfield pairing picks itself now. Francis Coquelin and Mohammed Elneny. The Frenchman is proven in the team and has been solid in his role. Elneny is more of a questionable entity, not due to lack of performance, but because of a lack of time in the team.
Twitter: CONFIRMED: @aaronramsey to miss at least four weeks of action. Which games will he miss? https://t.co/vPyMLJ4LKq https://t.co/tvoLw8yCw0 (@ReadArsenalFC)
Without Ramsey, much of the dictation from the deep-lying role will fall on the young Egyptian. He must move the ball quickly side to side while keeping the team’s balance. He must be able to drive the team forward when necessary but at the same time be aware of his positioning and shield the back four. With no Jack Wilshere, Santi Cazorla, or even Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, it has to be Elneny that takes the pivot role. There is no one else in the team that could step into the role.
Elneny has impressed in his outings in the middle of the park. Still, it is crucial that he steps into the role seamlessly for the title run in. Some criticisms of Elneny have been his lack of physicality and time on the ball. His physicality will come through more experience in the league, learning to adapt to the special intensity of top-tier English football. While he is tidy on the ball and does quite a good job of recycling possession when the team is in the opponents half, at times he gets caught out. This is something he will need to improve in order to succeed in the team.
Based on recent performances, there is no reason that he will not excel with a consistent run in of first team football. At the end of the day, Arsene Wenger is not currently blessed with a breadth of options because of injury problems, so he will have to hope that Elneny can keep up his impressive level of performance.
