Unai Emery has stated that he might start Denis Suarez against Manchester City on Sunday. That may seem crazy, but Arsenal have nothing to lose. If there is a match to be crazy in, this is it.
Arsenal did not sign Denis Suarez to be an automatic starter.
That was not the point. It never was in the first place. The idea was simply to add another body who could compete for the wide positions and provide Unai Emery with a little more flexibility in attacking areas.
This is a very different acquisition to Chelsea’s signing Gonzalo Higuain, who is expected to come in and start from day one. Suarez is a squad player with the possibility of earning a starting role.
And yet, when Emery asked about the prospect of him starting against Manchester City on Sunday, the first game that the 25-year-old has been at the Emirates, he was oddly positive about the idea, exalting the speed and ease of the adaptation process:
“If he starts [on Sunday] I have confidence in him. He has adapted very quickly and his qualities can help us but also his ambition, he wants to do something important here. It is a good challenge for him and for us. The first thing is the language and he can speak English. Secondly, he played for Manchester City’s youth teams. He has then experienced playing in Spain with us in Sevilla, and he played in a Europa League semi-final with Villarreal against Liverpool. He did not play for Barcelona’s first team a lot of times but he helped there and played in the Champions League. It is easy for him to adapt to playing for us.”
Impressive finish, @DenisSuarez6 ?
Over five minutes of training footage now available on our @YouTube channel ?
— Arsenal FC (@Arsenal) February 1, 2019
This is obviously not an admission of Suarez starting. And I still would expect to see him on the bench. It would be surprising if he was thrust into such a high-profile match from the off. But if there is a game to be a little experimental, to do something a little crazy, to take a risk that has every chance of backfiring, this it.
A trip to City is probably the toughest game of the season. Only Liverpool away is comparable. When looking at the fixture list for the year, I am sure Emery was dreading this one, knowing that his team was not only likely to be beaten but could also be on the wrong end of a real hiding. Arsenal’s quest for a top-four finish will not be dictated by whether they can win at the Etihad or not.
And so, because of these low expectations, Emery is essentially playing with house money. He has nothing to lose. So why not take a gamble on an unknown player who could take City by surprise and inject life into the Arsenal team?
I am not saying that I would start Suarez on Sunday. I am not sure he is either ready or simply good enough to handle such a match. But if there was a game that Emery wanted to do something crazy in, this is it.