Mikel Arteta's Arsenal facing daunting challenge with tough fixtures against Tottenham, Atalanta, and Man City in one week

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Mikel Arteta

It may feel premature to discuss defining periods so early in the season, but with Manchester City setting the bar so high, Arsenal's upcoming fixtures take on a significant level of importance.

Lose their impending trips to Tottenham and City, live on on Sunday September 15 and Sunday September 22 respectively, and, having already been held to a draw by Brighton, Arsenal could find themselves eight points off the pace of the champions.

It is a worst-case scenario which hardly bears thinking about for the club's fans. But there is also the small matter of a Champions League opener away to Atalanta on Thursday which leaves a turnaround of under 72 hours to the clash at the Etihad Stadium.

It is far from ideal, especially given City open their Champions League campaign a day earlier, at home to Inter Milan, following a Premier League home game against Brentford, eliminating the need for travel and giving them an extra day to prepare.

As if the run of three huge away games in seven days was not already difficult enough for Arsenal, they are now contending with a crisis of personnel in midfield too.

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Mikel Arteta, already without Mikel Merino, who fractured his shoulder in training immediately after his arrival from Real Sociedad, will also be unable to call on the suspended Declan Rice against Spurs following his contentious red card against Brighton.

The international break has added to his woes. A distraught Martin Odegaard had to be helped off the pitch on Monday after turning his ankle in action for Norway. He will be assessed by Arsenal but has been pictured using crutches, hinting at a lengthy lay-off.

Riccardo Calafiori also hurt his ankle during the break, in Italy's Nations League win over France on Friday, but is already back in London and working to be ready for Sunday's game.

Arsenal travel to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium having been victorious in their last two visits, ending an eight-game winless run at Spurs. But if Odegaard is added to the absentee list, they will do so without what might be considered their entire first-choice midfield.

Arteta's midfield headache

While Merino has not yet had a chance to establish himself at Arsenal, Rice and Odegaard are undisputably key. In fact, since Rice's arrival from West Ham at the start of last season, Arsenal have only contested three games out of 55 with neither player starting.

The first of those three games saw them beat Brentford 1-0 in last season's Carabao Cup. But they were beaten 3-1 by West Ham in the second, and drew 1-1 away to PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League group stage in the third.

The last time Rice dropped out of the starting line-up for a Premier League game was the 2-0 win over Luton Town in April, when he was replaced by the departed Emile Smith Rowe.

For Odegaard, you have to go back even further, to the 3-1 victory over Burnley in November, for which Kai Havertz was deployed as Arsenal's right-sided No 8 in his place.

When it comes to how Arteta's midfield takes shape on this occasion, the only apparent certainty is the inclusion of Thomas Partey, who has started their first three games of the season at No 6, with Rice playing as the more advanced left-sided No 8.

If Arteta wishes to persist with the 4-3-3 system he has used in all 79 Premier League games since the start of the 2022/23 season, according to Opta, and assuming Odegaard is unavailable as well as Rice, he will need to fill not one but two No 8 roles.

Leandro Trossard is one option, with Gabriel Martinelli and the newly-signed Raheem Sterling able to step in for him on the left wing, while Havertz is perhaps a more obvious one given he played more than half of his Premier League minutes as a No 8 last season.

Moving Havertz, though, is complicated by several factors, the first being the importance of his contribution up front.

The 25-year-old has 10 goals and seven assists in 15 Premier League starts as a striker for Arsenal and produced arguably his best display yet in the role in their 3-2 win at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in April, scoring one goal, setting up another and providing an effective outlet for long passes with his aerial and hold-up ability.

Such an outlet can be invaluable against a side who press as aggressively as Spurs and Arsenal do not possess another striker with Havertz's physical attributes.

Having sold Eddie Nketiah to Crystal Palace, their only other natural option in the No 9 role is Gabriel Jesus, who has not featured in almost a month due to a groin injury.

Arteta could alternatively turn to one of his academy graduates, with Ethan Nwaneri and Miles Lewis-Skelly both having joined the first-team squad following impressive pre-seasons. But handing a full debut to a 17-year-old in such a big game would be a huge call.

His other option is to change his system. Could Arteta's absentee list tempt him to use a double pivot in central midfield, switching from his favoured 4-3-3 to a 4-2-3-1? It would represent a big departure from his preferred formation but his hand may be forced.

Such a change would allow him to incorporate Jorginho, his only other experienced and available midfield option, alongside Partey. But Arteta has also spoken about Jurrien Timber's ability to play in midfield. Oleksandr Zinchenko may be another option given he plays there regularly for Ukraine.

Regardless of how they line up, what seems certain is that Arsenal will miss Rice, whose athleticism and ball-winning ability are unrivalled. Odegaard, as the side's main source of creativity and a considerable goal threat in his own right, would be an equally big loss.

Rotation challenge

Arteta will be grateful to have Rice back for the game against Atalanta. But in order to keep his side fresh for the trip to the Etihad Stadium, he will need to factor in rotation too.

Arteta leaned heavily on his regular starters last season, his reluctance to deviate from his preferred personnel evident in the fact that Arsenal made the second-fewest line-up changes in the Premier League over the course of the campaign, at 63.

In Saliba, Rice, Odeagaard, Gabriel Magalhaes, Ben White and Saka, Arsenal had six players who played at least 2,900 minutes last season to City's one, in Rodri. The result was that Pep Guardiola's players stayed fresher for longer in the title race.

While Arsenal's most important players were overused, others, by contrast, did not get used enough, with nine squad members playing fewer than 800 Premier League minutes.

Arteta has allowed many of those players to leave, Smith Rowe, Fabio Vieira and Reiss Nelson included. But having a smaller squad, like Guardiola at City, depends on minutes being distributed more evenly. These games will test Arteta's willingness to do that.

Arsenal's summer signings were intended, in part, to add necessary depth to facilitate more rotation. It is unfortunate that Merino won't be able to help against Spurs, Atalanta and Manchester City. But Calafiori is working to be fit for the Spurs game and Sterling is available. Timber effectively counts as a new signing too having missed last season with an ACL injury.

Arteta will need to make use of his whole squad this time around and pragmatism will be also required when it comes to his priorities if he is to navigate Arsenal's next three fixtures successfully.

Arsenal have eight 'league phase' games in the re-formatted Champions League this season. Plenty of opportunities, in other words, to make up for any possible slip-up against Atalanta on Thursday. They only get two chances, though, to take points off Manchester City in the title race.

The importance of the meetings with City was hammered home at the Etihad Stadium last season, when a goalless draw that looked a good result at the time ended up costing them the title.

And as if beating Guardiola's side on their own patch is not hard enough, Arteta must first steer Arsenal through the first of two other away games with depleted options and little margin for error.