Is the best defense in the sport about to get even better? Perhaps not in its starting XI, but with Piero Hincapie at last available following his deadline day move from Bayer Leverkusen, there is a chance that Mikel Arteta’s side is about to add even more aggression, determination and full throttled force.
The Ecuador international has managed to play just one minute for his new club since his loan move, a groin issue sidelining him until the international break. Hincapie has now returned to training and, although he will have a battle on his hands in establishing himself over Gabriel or Riccardo Calafiori on the left side of defense, he is certain to bolster Arsenal’s options at a time when the fixture list offers no quarter.
Nor will Hincapie when he is vying with his opponents. When the time came during the summer to reluctantly indulge Jakub Kiwior’s desire to move for more first team football, the assumption had been that Arsenal would have to accept a downgrade in their defensive cover. Instead they secured a favorable deal — a loan with an option both Leverkusen and Arsenal can activate and which both clubs expect to be made permanent — for a player who could prove to be superior.
Playing across the left flank for Xabi Alonso’s Leverkusen, the 23-year-old established himself as one of the most promising young defenders in Europe. In many ways he fits the archetype of versatility embodied by the likes of Josko Gvardiol: at full back he can get into dangerous positions, move possession up the field and is very capable of playing a more reserved, inverted role while his team mate on the other side bombs on. As a center back in a back three he could get forward, pass from deep and dominate his duels. It would be damning Hincapie with insufficient praise to say that he could do a job when Calafiori or Gabriel go down.
Not that Arteta would have to trust his assessment nor that of the scouting team in deciding whether Hincapie was the one. He had as good an inside source as a manager could wish for; the benefit of an almost four decaded friendship with the by then departed Alonso.
Did he speak to the former Leverkusen, now Real Madrid manager when he was mulling a move for Hincapie? “For sure, I had to,” said Arteta. “I mean, someone like him that I know so well, trust him and who had him for a few years, it’s very valuable information to have.
“He was super complimentary of him for many different reasons and it was good to confirm what I saw, and some of the things that you obviously learn from that conversation that you probably weren’t very aware of.”
Those things will stay between Arteta and Alonso, but the former was not exactly shy in heralding the talents of his new signing. “He’s a player who is going to help us a lot, he’s going to bring something different to the team. We need to get him going, get him to the speed that is necessary to compete at this level and gradually to where we want.
“What you’re going to see is his aggression, his determination. He’s a player who goes full gas to every single action, especially in defending. And with the ball, whether he plays a left-center back or a fullback, a player who is very clean on the ball. Again, someone who really wants to penetrate, whether it’s with the ball, his positioning, and it will bring a different character and emotion to the team.”
It is hard to believe that Arteta’s defense really needs more. After all they have conceded just three goals in their first seven Premier League games, only one of which came from open play. Allowing just 0.62 xG per game should seem unsustainable for most team. For Arsenal it doesn’t feel that far from the norm. “The more we do those things in a lot of parameters throughout the season and establish ourselves in those categories at the highest level, the bigger the chance will be to achieve what we want,” said Arteta.
Of course Arsenal only increase the odds with such excellent defending, they don’t obliterate them entirely. After all on their last trip to Craven Cottage Fulham were held to two shots worth a combined 0.16 xG. Somehow Marco Silva’s side got a point. For the most part Arteta responded to games like this one, of which there were a few too many last season, by adding greater variety to his attack, enough that an absence such as Martin Odegaard’s over the coming weeks doesn’t look like hindering them to anywhere near the same extent it might have 12 months ago.
Hincapie represents the other side of that recruitment drive, one that gives Arsenal a chance to make those >0.25 xG games a little bit more frequent. There are 70 possible quartets from the eight defenders Arteta has available to him, with his new signing in the mix it is hard to fathom up more than a handful that don’t make for a intimidating physical unit. So yes, the best might actually be about to discover it can get even better.
How to watch Fulham vs. Arsenal, odds
- Date: Saturday, Oct. 18 | Time: 12:30 p.m. ET
- Location: Craven Cottage — London
- Live stream: Peacock
- Odds: Fulham +500; Draw +300; Arsenal -182
