SETTABLOID

New England boss Thomas Tuchel has held talks with Arsenal defender Ben White ahead of next month’s round of international fixtures.

The German head coach, who started his role in an official capacity on January 1, admitted he would hold talks with the defender at the World Cup draw back in December. “Yes, I will reach out to him,” he said.

The Gunners defender has not featured for the Three Lions after leaving England’s World Cup camp in Qatar, with The Football Association citing “personal reasons” for his departure from Gareth Southgate’s camp, back in 2022.

White reportedly made himself unavailable for international selection after a fallout with Southgate’s assistant Steve Holland – having made four England appearances prior to his final outing in March 2022.

The Arsenal defender has previously admitted that neither he nor his family are avid football fans, though enjoys playing the game but confesses that he seldom watches it when he’s off-duty.

Arsenal will have suffered according to Mikel Arteta in the day or two post their 1-0 home defeat to West Ham United which put a near-terminal dent in their hopes of winning the title. The weight of the challenge and the thinness of the group had been showing for a while but came to a head on Saturday.

A trip four days later to Nottingham Forest provides yet another tough challenge to overcome. It is not as though Mikel Arteta has much to choose from when it comes to options either.

However, there is enough to make a structural change and try something completely different to help offset some of the issues.

Jurrien Timber, William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes keep their places in the team, however, Ben White and Kieran Tierney can operate as wing-backs to offer the width that the side needs. The defensive three offers plenty of experience and quality in the middle while White and Tierney can overlap the wider players and play the crosses needed to cause problems.

Declan Rice and Thomas Partey add the security in midfield and coverage when some defensive players move forward. Myles Lewis-Skelly is suspended for this match and therefore does not come into the thinking.

Riccardo Calafiori had something of a nightmare against West Ham, sadly, and so he offers something only from the bench here. Martin Odegaard should arguably face the drop too, but there is creativity needed and without so many attacking players he still plays.

Arsenal reportedly have Juventus striker Dusan Vlahovic in their summer transfer wishlist. It’s been well documented that Arsenal have tried to bring in a new attacker in the summer and during the January transfer window but were unsuccessful on both occasions.

They are expected to finally do so in the summer after seeing an approach for RB Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko turned down. The Slovenian opted to remain in Germany for at least another season. He put his decision down to wanting to ‘gain more experience, learn more and not rush things.’

Last month, the club chose to make a move for Aston Villa star Ollie Watkins as there was a substantial need for a new centre-forward to push for the Premier League title. However, their bid of £40million was rebuffed by the Villans who value the 29-year-old at above £60m.

Amid reports the Gunners could come back for Sesko at the end of the season, Italian outlet Tutto Mercato claim they have set their sights on Vlahovic. It’s said the north Londoners are ‘waiting’ to make a move for the Serb, who is also on the radar of Chelsea and Manchester United.

The first is thought to be related to his ‘economic expectations’ which is said to have become a ‘significant issue’ for the Italian side. The second is apparently due to not fitting into their manager Thiago Motta’s tactical system, which could prompt selling him to find a more sensible option.

Arsenal will still have hopes of winning a major trophy this season despite the disappointment of results across the Premier League at the weekend.

The Gunners were beaten by West Ham on Saturday before title rivals Liverpool secured a victory over Manchester City 24 hours later. The results meant that Arsenal are now 11 points behind the Merseyside club in the Premier League table with a game in hand and will now prepare to face Nottingham Forest on Wednesday night.

It remains to be seen what Arsenal will achieve this season, but that is not stopping rumours from circling, claiming that transfer plans are already being put in place. Speculation has already been doing the rounds about the players that are apparently on the Gunners’ radar as the summer transfer window fast approaches.

Gunners have identified Gittens as a potential target for the summer transfer window, having been keeping tabs on the Dortmund forward over the last few months. It has been reported that the Bundesliga club have set a £70million asking price for the 20-year-old ahead of the summer.

The report claims that Arsenal will face competition from Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester City and Aston Villa for Gittens’ signature. It has also been suggested that the forward, who has scored 11 goals this season, would be keen to return to England five years after leaving Man City to join Dortmund.

The defeat to West Ham was so damaging and transformative to the mood surrounding the club that in the space of two days, conversations changed from what could happen to open up the opportunity for the Gunners to retake control of the title, to suggestions it is now all over. Can the pendulum swing as quickly in the other direction? Perhaps, but the likelihood of that in the current context of both sides makes it very small.

As a result, Arsenal’s next five games will, for me, determine how their season will finish. Three Premier League games, with two UEFA Champions League matches at the end surrounding the hosting of Chelsea.

In just two days’ time, Arsenal will take on a Nottingham Forest team who, despite losing at Newcastle, scored three goals at St James’ Park. This is one more than Arsenal have managed on their last five visits to the northeast club.

The City Ground itself has been another awful place too for the Gunners. Losing there in May of 2023, in the FA Cup the year before and in 2018 in the same competition – although they did secure a 2-1 victory on their last visit to the East Midlands club.

This season Nuno Espirito Santo has got his side performing extremely well and they will be a tougher opponent than the last time the Gunners travelled north. A win here though would be quite the statement and a real turn in mood for the side.

Then comes the trip to Eindhoven where Mikel Arteta faces a familiar opponent in PSV. The third season in a row the sides have met but on each of the last two occasions, Arteta failed to record a win in the Netherlands – losing 2-0 in 2022 and drawing 1-1 in 2023.

The wait for Arsenal to make a permanent appointment of their sporting director goes on despite claims after the close of the January transfer window that it would be a decision made rather quickly. However, we are approaching the end of February and moving into March and yet there is no breakthrough as to who will get the job.

“The decision, I think, will be done relatively quickly, whether it’s Jason or somebody else, I don’t know, but I think that decision will be done quite early,” Mikel Arteta said after the closure of the window.

Yet nearly a month has gone by since this claim from the Arsenal manager and it does not look clearer as to who it might be. Jason Ayto oversaw the January transfer window alongside the existing recruitment team following Edu Gaspar’s resignation earlier in the season.

How much control Arteta has remains unstated. Going off his words there, it appears something the likes of Josh Kroenke, Tim Lewis, and Richard Garlick will have the biggest sway on – however, it would be naïve to assume the influence of the Gunners’ manager in any major club decision.

There were some suggestions that Tomas Rosicky had become a leading candidate in the race. The former Arsenal midfielder has resided at Sparta Praha, turning them into a title-winning side once against and returning them back to the Champions League for the first time in 14 years.