Winners and Losers: Spurs (Friendly)

On Sunday, Arsenal played their last preseason friendly ahead of the start of the 2021-22 season. Disappointingly, the match resulted in a 1-0 loss against the Gunners’ north London rivals, but much can be gleaned outside of the final score. Below are Arsenal’s three biggest winners and losers from their defeat to Spurs in The Mind Series preseason friendly.

Winners

Ben White

When Arsenal first acquired White for £50 million from Brighton, many supporters complained that the club overspent for the young defender. But against Spurs in the Gunners’ final preseason friendly, White looked like he might be an absolute bargain at that price. He progressed the ball well from Arsenal’s back line, either dribbling halfway up the pitch or deftly clipping it forward to teammates. He also provided more defensive security than his colleagues on either side of him. It looks as if the void left by David Luiz’s departure has been filled.

Albert Sambi Lokonga

Lokonga has been thrust into the limelight far earlier than expected due to Thomas Partey’s ankle sprain suffered against Chelsea. The Belgian 21-year-old started alongside Granit Xhaka in midfield on Sunday and put on another encouraging display to cap off an impressive preseason. He functioned as a consistent safety valve in midfield, rarely losing possession. Additionally, Lokonga was once again an effective progressor of the ball, switching it out to the flanks with precision or carrying it forward himself. The new man has hopefully supplanted Mohamed Elneny and earned the start against Brentford in Arsenal’s Premier League opener.

Emile Smith Rowe

Smith Rowe looks like he means business this season. Arsenal’s new No. 10 has emerged as a leader on the pitch over the course of preseason, and clearly sought to take charge of matters once more against Spurs. Smith Rowe combined well with players on the flanks, and took a couple good shots during the match. One of the few Arsenal players who already looks to be in mid-season form, the Hale End product is set to be a starring cast member for the 2021-22 campaign.

Losers

Hector Bellerín

For much of last season, Bellerín was universally maligned by the Arsenal faithful. Unfortunately, he has not done much in preseason to earn back supporters’ trust, and was quite poor on Sunday aside from a fun moment when he did Dele Alli so badly the Englishman pounded a fist against the pitch in frustration. His crossing was notably inadequate for the umpteenth time, and his forays up the pitch regularly left acres of space for Spurs’ attacking players to run into. With it looking more likely each day that Arsenal may be unable to offload the Spaniard, fans remain difficult to blame for being unhappy with that potential outcome.

Pablo Marí

Since he arrived from Flamengo, Marí has served admirably as backup for Gabriel. The Spaniard is a solid distributor of the ball, and quicker than he looks. However, in Gabriel’s absence, Marí has failed to impress alongside Ben White in defense. Today was a prime example, as his blunder allowed Heung-min Son to score the winner for Spurs. Marí looks uncomfortable playing a high line, which is bad news for him as it seems that Mikel Arteta plans to have his side do just that this season. It should not be surprising if Gabriel returns to the starting lineup as soon as he is fit.

The Lacazette-Aubameyang partnership

While it may have appeared in the second half of last season that the days of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang playing on the left flank with Alexandre Lacazette up top were finally behind us, Arteta looks to have returned to that fruitless setup with Martinelli at the Olympics and Saka returning from holiday following the Euros. Lacazette as the center-forward is acceptable as the Frenchman has demonstrated an aptitude for combining with the other forward players. However, Aubameyang at left winger needs to end. The Premier League Golden Boot winner simply does not possess the technical ability and high-touch tendency needed to appropriately contribute from that position. While the intention is to have Kieran Tierney function as the actual left winger and Aubameyang to drift inside as a second striker, that tactic has not worked for quite some time. Once Arteta has enough wide option at his disposal, it needs to be either Aubameyang or Lacazette in the team, not both.

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