It has been a season of lower standards. The potential title-decider could be determined by stand-ins. It is somehow apt.
Manuel Pellegrini mused last week that the champions could end up with fewer than 80 points, which would be a first this millennium. While Leicester lead the league, Arsenal and Manchester City — who meet in London on Monday – remain the two likeliest winners.
They face off with the possibility, if not a probability, that their fate lies in the hands of one who either does not figure in the strongest starting 11, or not in the position he will occupy.
Injuries have been constants at the Emirates and the Etihad Stadiums alike this season. They are reasons why neither Arsenal nor City has sustained the consistency that would render them red-hot favourites. They have been the blight of managers and afforded opportunities to players. Their meeting represents a test of strength in depth.
Arsenal’s January win over City owed much to the midfield axis of Francis Coquelin and Santi Cazorla. Now each is sidelined. In their stead, the team feature the recalled Mathieu Flamini and the relocated Aaron Ramsey.
The latter is an indication of the enviable options Arsene Wenger possesses. Dubbed “the best attacking midfielder in the Premier League” by Steven Gerrard, on whose shoulders the title rested in the past, Ramsey was stifled on the right flank. He has scored on successive weekends as a central midfielder.
Yet there are questions if he has the positional discipline.
“Ramsey has to think about the defensive side of his game,” said Frank Lampard, another with an MBA in midfield play. Flamini has deputised manfully for Coquelin but his wanderlust means he, too, can roam out of position. City have a battalion of attacking midfielders and could be placed to capitalise if he does.
Alexis Sanchez has a “slight chance” of recovering in time to return, according to Wenger. If not, Joel Campbell’s remarkable renaissance could continue with a starting berth.
“I could smell it was going to be Joel Campbell’s time,” said Wenger. Few others could. A forgotten man was a catalytic figure in their Champions League win over Olympiakos, though it would still feel incongruous if he were to settle a game of this magnitude.
The likelihood is that Arsenal will score, probably more than once. Vincent Kompany’s recovery from a calf injury has not come quite quickly enough. City are yet to keep a clean sheet in the eight league games their captain has not started. They have conceded 16 times.
Eliaquim Mangala and Nicolas Otamendi were purchased for a combined £74 million (Dh405m) as a particularly expensive insurance policy against Kompany’s absences. Each, however, has appeared more reliable alongside the captain.
“Nico has come in and been a pretty special signing for us and Manga has got to grips with it now in his second season,” said Joe Hart supportively, but City do not have the structure where reserves can slot in seamlessly. The feeling is that they remain reliant on a group of particularly gifted individuals.
Wilfried Bony is trying to disprove that. His outings as Sergio Aguero’s understudy have been decidedly mixed but the Ivorian has scored in his last two games.
The Argentine, who has missed City’s last four matches with a heel injury, is in contention to make his comeback. The probability is that Pellegrini will parachute him back into the starting line-up, but that he will not complete the 90 minutes. One way or another, Bony should feature. City’s destiny may be in his hands.
And in a title race already being shaped by surprise packages, in the shape of Leicester’s overachievers, and stripped of its supposed thoroughbreds, as Chelsea are found in the wrong half of the table, there would be something fitting if the pivotal contribution on Monday night came from someone who, if everyone else was fit, would either be in a different position or confined to a watching brief altogether.
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