Arsene Wenger reveals how he plans on fitting Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Mesut Ozil into Arsenal's starting XI
Wenger has revealed he may resort to playing new signing Mkhitaryan out of position in order to accommodate him in his starting XI
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Your support makes all the difference.Arsene Wenger has revealed he may resort to playing new signing Henrikh Mkhitaryan out of position in order to accommodate him in his starting XI.
Mkhitaryan completed his transfer to the club last week, with Alexis Sanchez moving to Manchester United in exchange.
The Armenian was cup-tied for Arsenal’s recent win over Chelsea in the EFL Cup semi-final second leg, but is in line to feature against Swansea next week.
However, Wenger admitted he is not yet certain on how to fit Mkhitaryan into his team, and said the playmaker could even feature in a “box-to-box” role.
“I think Mkhitaryan can play in all positions in midfield,” Wenger said on Friday. “In a box to box role, certainly not a defensive role or as a holding player, but all the other positions are not out of reach.
“Until now he has played in a wide role but he can certainly absorb that role in a kind of winge r or playmaker. I don’t rule it out for him to become a box to box player.”
Wenger added that he did not sign Mkhitaryan as a replacement for Mesut Ozil, whose Arsenal contract expires at the end of the current season, and instead wants the pair to play together in his team.
“Our intention is we signed Mkhitaryan on a longer contract than we had with Sanchez,” he added. “Our intention is to keep Ozil at the club and hopefully we will manage to do that soon.”
Mkhitaryan has only featured in one match in 2018, playing 45-minutes of Manchester United’s 2-0 win over Derby in the FA Cup.
He was relegated to a fringe role at Old Trafford by Jose Mourinho and lacks match fitness, but Wenger said he has settled into life at Arsenal well and is in contention to play on Tuesday night.
“We can see straight away he is a great player, what we knew before we got him,” Wenger said.
“After that we will know more about him after two-three days as we have some good days to prepare.
“We will know the best possible position for him and how to integrate him with the way we want to play. It does not look like there will be any problem.
“I haven't decided [if Mkhitaryan plays on Tuesday] yet. I will decide on Monday. He is available like everyone else.”
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