Silver lining for Arsenal's golden boy: Guendouzi can prove his worth after big Torreira blow

The news that Lucas Torreira could have suffered a season-ending injury during Monday night’s win at Portsmouth has understandably been met with plenty of frustration around Arsenal.

The Uruguayan may have fallen slightly behind Granit Xhaka and Dani Ceballos in the pecking order in recent weeks, but he is still a key player in Mikel Arteta’s squad.

He was the first substitute introduced by Arteta during the defeat by Olympiacos last week and although his introduction didn’t ultimately turn the tie in Arsenal’s favour, it was an indication of how important the 24-year-old is to Arsenal’s head coach.

If he’s not in the starting line-up, Torreira is the man who can come on in a bid to tighten things up in the midfield. He adds energy, combativeness and his ability to press is viewed very favourably by Arsenal's head coach.

But now it looks like the former Sampdoria man may have played his final game of the season. Arsenal are yet to put a time frame on his return from the fractured ankle he suffered at Fratton Park, but the initial prognosis is not overly positive.

“Hopefully he can avoid any surgeries which is always very traumatic,” said Arteta, ahead of Saturday’s meeting with West Ham at Emirates Stadium.

“He was quite positive. We don't really know exactly the extent of the injury. He needs to see the specialist and we will know more about it.

“Hopefully we can have him before the end of the season.”

Whatever the outcome of the scans and tests currently being carried out on Torreira’s ankle, the fact is Arsenal are going to be without the diminutive midfielder for some time.

It’s a blow for Arteta, but it does bring with it an opportunity for others to step up and Matteo Guendouzi now has a major chance to breathe new life into a season that has stalled somewhat.

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Since arriving at Arsenal in the summer of 2018, the trajectory of young Frenchman’s career had only gone in one direction.

Few had heard of the midfielder when he made the switch to north London from French second-tier club Lorient, but that all changed in a very short space of time.

Only Alex Iwobi, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Lucas Torreira and Alexandre Lacazette made more appearances than Guendouzi during his debut season with the Gunners and his performances even saw him in the running for the prestigious Golden Boy award, which recognises Europe’s best player under the age of 21.

He may have lost out to Joao Felix, but his nomination alone showed just how far he had come since making the move to England.

But wind the clock forward a few months and the current outlook for Guendouzi is looking slightly different.

The 20-year-old has started just two of the nine Premier League games Arsenal have played since Arteta took charge and has also found himself left out of a squad altogether by the Spaniard after the two clashed during the recent training camp in Dubai.

“It was about the way we train, the way we play, the way we live,” Arteta said, when asked why Guendouzi had been left out completely against Newcastle.

“I want the best players for the game and I select them in relation to what I see on a daily basis.”

Guendouzi’s temporary banishment only lasted one game. After missing out against Newcastle he returned to the starting XI for the first leg of the Europa League tie against Olympiacos in Greece.

He then came off the bench against Everton and started Monday night’s 2-0 success against Portsmouth in the FA Cup. That game at Fratton Park saw the midfielder produce what was arguably his best performance since the victory at Bournemouth in the previous round of the same competition.

Guendouzi made 92 passes during the 90 minutes, more than any other Arsenal player.

Of those 92 passes, 86 were successful and 49 were in the opposition half. Again, both of those numbers were higher than any other player who featured for Arteta’s side.

Guendouzi also had more touches (102) than anyone else and also won possession more times (9) than any of his team-mates.

It may have been against League One opposition, but it was the type of performance that once again demonstrated the immense talent and potential that the France Under-21 international possesses.

It’s easy to forget, given the rapid rise to prominence that Guendouzi has enjoyed, just how young he is. And it’s perhaps that impetuousness of youth that can get the midfielder into trouble.

His flashpoint with Arteta in Dubai was not the first time he has fallen out with a coach.

At Lorient, a changing room argument with manager Michael Landreau, which stemmed from Guendouzi ripping into his team-mates for a poor first-half performance, saw him banished from the side for three months. He was just 18 at the time.

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The young Frenchman has an infectious character.

You can see that when you spend time around London Colney and see how he interacts with close friends Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette.

He is brash, cocky almost - but that is what makes him the player he is.

“Because he's young, he likes to do jokes,” Sead Kolasinac said on the Sky Sports' Teammates 2.0 show. “Every morning he's laughing.

“He does a lot of bad things - I am not telling this for television. If I'm playing cards and I lose he comes behind me and (shouts) 'Ahh you lost!' Like this.”

For a coach like Arteta, who has made it clear since he arrived that the way he wants his players to behave is non-negotiable, Guendouzi’s character and perhaps sometimes laid back approach could be frustrating at times.

But performances like the one he produced at Portsmouth on Monday night will go a long way to convincing the Spaniard that he still has a big part to play for Arsenal this season.

And with Torreira now sidelined for the long-term, the Frenchman has the perfect opportunity to remind everyone why he was being viewed as Arsenal’s golden boy just a few months ago.