Arsenal could unleash modern-day Vieira in a new role and release Zvimendi

This week we have a huge amount of information to share about how the Arsenal team is doing. You can’t avoid it. It has probably been the biggest seven days of Mikel Arteta’s managerial career.

For now, the Spaniard is failing the test. The Gunners failed in the Carabao Cup final, lost to lower league Southampton in the FA Cup and lost to fellow south coast side Bournemouth on Saturday.

Losing these two cup games was definitely painful, but there is no doubt that the loss to the Cherries was the biggest fist-pump.

Arsenal may not have lost the Premier League title yet, but the cracks are starting to show. The nine-point gap has now been reduced to six points, and a loss in next Sunday’s clash with Manchester City could reduce the gap to three points with one game remaining for Josep Guardiola’s side.

It’s time for the team to stand up. If he wins next weekend, it won’t mathematically clinch the title, but he’ll have achieved it. They are looking forward to winning the league for the first time in over 20 years. What do we have in our arsenal?

To get over the line, Arteta will need to make a number of changes to Martin Zvimendi’s form, which is perhaps his biggest concern at the moment.

Why Zvimendi is a big problem for Arsenal

Some of Arsenal’s biggest problems at the moment are undoubtedly in attack. Against Andoni Iraola’s side on Saturday, their open play expected goals (xG) was just 0.18. To sum up, they didn’t produce much of a goal.

But in the middle of the park, a big problem arose over Zvimendi.

The Spaniard, signed from Real Sociedad last summer, was hailed by Spanish manager Luis de la Fuente as the “second best” midfielder in the world after Rodri, but he has struggled to live up to expectations, especially in 2026.

At the beginning of the season, it looked like the Spain international had signed a great deal. Declan Rice couldn’t stop waxing lyrical about his qualities, praising their partnership as “outstanding”.

“It was very easy to play with him (Zvimendi),” Rice said in November. “We just signed him in the summer and normally it takes time to build a connection, but from the first moment we got together in preseason, I just knew we were going to play good football with him.”

However, while this combination was initially successful in 2025/26, it has now become a problem area for Arteta to address. Rice is not the problem. He was one of the few Arsenal players looking to push the team forward on Saturday.

But his partner in crime needs time away from the team. In fact, Zvimendi has been visiting crime scenes far too often this season. His ability to get around the press is questionable and he gives away the ball too often.

The Spaniard has been stripped twice this season in the build-up to a goal, once for Richarlison’s goal against Tottenham at the Emirates and once for Brian Mbuumo’s equalizer against Manchester United in January.

He was once again to blame for the loss of Alex Scott last weekend when the Bournemouth midfielder scored the winning goal.

Another thing that caught my attention was the last scene.

Zvimendi was visibly shaken and had to be comforted by Mr Rice. I don’t know the details, but it’s clear that the summer contract needs to be removed from the lineup.

How can Arsenal solve the Zvimendi problem?

The most obvious solution here would be to finally let Christian Norgaard go. The Dane arrived alongside Zvimendi last summer but has only played 56 minutes in the Premier League, barely kicking a ball.

As a result, Arteta is unlikely to turn to an experienced midfielder. He could look to Myles Lewis-Skelly, but in a week against Manchester City that feels like a gamble.

So what about rice? For most of his Arsenal career, the English player has played either at the base of midfield, as a number six or as a number eight on the left. From the latter role he grew and soared to new heights. Since joining the Gunners in 2023, his achievements as a more advanced player have been praised, and there has been talk of him winning the Ballon d’Or.

However, a few tweaks to Rice’s role could help Arsenal’s team as a whole play better. We’re not necessarily talking about playing the former West Ham man as a holding midfielder again, but he needs to transform from a left-wing number eight to a right-wing number eight.

This is a position where the 27-year-old can thrive, even at the expense of Zvimendi. The midfielder, seen as a modern-day Patrick Vieira, an all-action midfielder who can not only rush forward but also break up play, showed what he can do on Saturday with a rare lunge into the opposition half on the right flank.

He does the same thing regularly on the left side, but we need to see more of it on the right side. His running ability is minimal, if any, in the current team and his crossing ability could truly be showcased from this area of ​​the pitch rather than checking back and cutting in from the left.

Martin Odegaard or Ebelesi Eze could potentially play on the left, which would not only solve the midfield problem, but also Bukayo Saka’s lack of output from the right.

This Arsenal team dynamic has been ailing for a long time, and while this adjustment won’t be the only thing that can fix it, it could go a long way.