by Leandro Trossard is arguably one of the most successful signings in Arsenal’s modern history and could be the club’s best January signing ever. In a short space of time, the Belgian has become a vital part of Mikel Arteta’s squad and has scored some of the biggest goals in some of the most important games.
Of course Trossard was the scorer of the equalizer against Bayern Munich. But he also scored the only goal in the 1-0 win over Porto, the decisive third against Liverpool, the late equalizer against Chelsea and the winner at Everton and that’s just this season.
He has currently scored six goals from the bench this season in all competitions, more than any other player across Europe’s top five leagues. This is a remarkable achievement, but it also created one of the club’s current enduring myths that often sees Trossard misjudged and profiled.
You’ve probably seen or heard words from others or maybe even thought to yourself that Trossard is only effective as a bench player. He shouldn’t be starting games because when he does, he’s not that good.
This is a view that is certainly spreading more this season and it is perhaps understandable why but it is an unfair view of the former Brighton man. The reality for Trossard is that he has always been the fourth choice forward behind Gabriel Jesus, Bukayo Saka and, most importantly, Gabriel Martinelli.
With the addition of Kai Havertz, it has made the competition for places in Arsenal’s starting line-up even tougher – which is certainly to the club’s advantage. But there is clearly this view that Trossard’s place should always be on the bench with the away leg in Munich coming up next week that he should only be thought of as someone who can be brought on late to make a difference to do.
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These facts that some people ignore ignore that much of reality. If the question is, has Trossard had more of an impact on games this season off the bench than when he started them, I’d say yes.
Does this mean he should only start from the bench or because some claim is ineffective (or insert a harsher word some people choose to use here) when he starts games? Not at all.
In fact, I would argue that Trossard is perhaps the best finisher at the club. The numbers certainly back this up too if we look at penalty goals and penalty xG for Arsenal players, the ones that are outperforming their npxG are by far the most showing the ability to score the harder attempts over the season .
In fifth place is Gabriel Jesus who has scored eight penalty goals but is underperforming on his npxG of 8.1. It’s a similar story for fourth placed Kai Havertz who has nine clean sheets but an npxG of 9.1.
In third place is Gabriel Martinelli who has scored eight goals without penalties and has performed better than his npxG of 7.3. Then comes Starboy Bukayo Saka who has 13 penalty goals and is significantly outperforming his npxG of 10.2.
But Trossard stands out among the rest and also has 13 clean sheets but has the same npxG as Martinelli of 7.3. Outperforms the metric by 5.7, meaning he’s scored almost six more goals than the data believes he should be able to display this season.
And let’s not forget that these include goals against the likes of Liverpool, Chelsea, Bayern Munich, Porto, Sevilla and away at West Ham, Everton and Brighton. Get Trossard in a dangerous position and he has a great chance to score.
So when Arsenal travel to Munich next week there is a strong argument that Trossard should be on the pitch as long as he is available and should start accordingly. Martinelli had a tough time against Joshua Kimmich who was excellent at shutting down the speedy player.
However, Trossard came forward and completely missed the German. Ghosting into the central area, first starting out a little to the right of the center before moving into space to receive the ball from Gabriel Jesus and then slot into the bottom corner.
Bayern will be expected to be more dominant at home, meaning chances may be limited. Therefore it is better to have your territory on the field to try to take them when they come.
But what about that argument that Trossard isn’t as good when he starts? Well, it’s almost as if last season was forgotten because after injury to Jesus and the drop in form of Eddie Nketiah who represented Belgium in the beginning was starting much more.
He has also played on the left, right and powerfully through the middle and in seven consecutive Premier League starts he has seven assists, including three away at Fulham as the Gunners win all seven games . With Gabriel Jesus back in fitness, Trossard returned to the bench and would remain there for the next four games against Liverpool, West Ham Southampton and Manchester City… the Gunners failed to win a single one.
He came back into the starting line-up at left wing and helped Arsenal to a 3-1 win against Chelsea, with all three goals coming in the first half. It is indeed a myth that Trossard does not do well when he starts and as mentioned some of the most important things he has done have happened when he was on the field.
He certainly has a big argument for who should start in Munich next week. Mikel Arteta will ultimately make the decision but let’s hope he can convince the Arsenal great of this misconception.
