James McNicholas believes that one Arsenal trend this season reveals what Mikel Arteta really thinks of one of his own signings.
Mikel Arteta clearly has his favourites within his Arsenal squad.
There are certain players that the Spanish coach clearly has huge faith in. Those in this core group at the Emirates Stadium, such as Bukayo Saka, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes, Declan Rice, Kai Havertz, and club captain Martin Odegaard, have all had to play a huge amount of football this season.
Meanwhile, figures such as Emile Smith Rowe, Eddie Nketiah, Reiss Nelson, and Fabio Vieira, amongst others, have been restricted to bit-part roles, even when fully fit and available.
Do Arsenal need to use Fabio Vieira to ease burden on Martin Odegaard?
For context, Vieira has not started a Premier League game since September. He has only started two league games all season. Since his return from injury February, the Portuguese midfielder has made just two cameos off the bench in the top flight of English football.
Meanwhile, Odegaard has started every single Premier League match since late November. The Norwegian playmaker has been in fine form, and is a vital member of this team, but his style of play is extremely intense. Odegaard has been described as a “perfect” Arsenal captain due to his extraordinary work rate, and the manner in which he leads by example with his relentless pressing.
The £30 million former Real Madrid man covers an awful lot of ground week in, week out, and there is certainly a concern that he could burn out before the end of the season.
That scenario, Odegaard being too fatigued to produce his best form during the run-in, whilst Arsenal are chasing a Premier League title and need to win every game they play, would be nothing short of a disaster.
READ MORE: Everything to know about Arsenal star Martin Odegaard from girlfriend to £65k car
What does Mikel Arteta really think of Fabio Vieira?
In an ideal world, Arteta would surely have liked to be able to rest and rotate Odegaard more regularly this season. The obvious option to come in for the 25-year-old, based on their comparable attributes and styles of play, would be Vieira.
James McNicholas believes that Arteta’s obvious reluctance to rely upon the 23-year-old is particularly revealing. Speaking on the Arsecast Extra podcast, the reporter said, “Odegaard and Havertz, for me, the amount of minutes they’ve played recently has been extraordinary. I think the fact that Odegaard keeps playing minute after minute, game after game, kind of tells as much about – not to pick on him – but it tells as much about what Arteta thinks of Fabio Vieira at this point in time as it does about Martin Odegaard.”
Arteta was willing to shell out £34 million to sign Vieira from Porto in the summer of 2022. The fact that the midfielder has now been listed among the thirteen Arsenal players who could leave the Emirates Stadium in the upcoming summer transfer window says a lot about how he has fared since making the switch to North London.