An upcoming six-day period this month could force Mikel Arteta back to the drawing board at Arsenal.
The Spaniard must set his side up to take on Leeds on the 22nd and Wolves on the 28th as November draws to a close, where the Gunners could find out a lot about themselves.
Of course, on paper, those two fixtures hardly seem the most daunting.
However, after witnessing what Aston Villa did to Arsenal on their own turf last time out, there is the potentiality that Arteta rips up his current plans if positive results are not achieved against Marcelo Bielsa and Nuno Espirito Santo.
Leeds and Wolves are similar to Aston Villa in many ways. Both sides possess quality in attack, such as Raul Jimenez, Patrick Bamford, Adama Traore and Jack Harrison.
They can stretch teams. They are direct. They get the ball forward and have players clinical enough to make the pressure pay.
If this six-day spell ends in disaster, Arteta might not feel comfortable continuing the season using his current shape, or even using some players he’s currently starting week in, week out.
Let’s imagine that Arsenal lose both of these games.
The Gunners would end the month with just one win from four Premier League outings, which would’ve come against a Manchester United side far from their best right now.
In Leeds’ case, they have already claimed a scalp by drawing against Manchester City, while also running Liverpool close at Anfield.
They know how to tackle big sides, as does Nuno having done the double over Manchester City last season.
It will be interesting to see how Arteta reacts if this six-day period doesn’t go to plan.
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