‘Honestly’: Arteta told to hand ‘superb’ Arsenal youngster his debut tomorrow, he’s been likened to Ozil

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Charles Watts has suggested that Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta should start Matt Smith against Bodo/Glimt tomorrow.

The Gunners are hoping to make it three wins out of three in the Europa League when they head to Norway.

Smith has been featuring regularly with the Arsenal first team in training over the past few weeks.

This was the case ahead of the Bodo/Glimt trip too, suggesting he’ll be in the squad.

Watts, speaking on his latest YouTube video, says he’d be tempted to start Smith in place of Granit Xhaka, who could do with a rest.

“Honestly, I’ll be tempted to start Matt Smith in this one,” he said.

“He’s been in around it for a while now, been on the bench, he’s not got any minutes.

“I just I really fear about starting Granit Xhaka again. You’ve got to find a way of giving Granit a little bit of time to rest.

“He can’t keep starting all of these games.

“I mean, he’s no spring chicken – I know he’s not mid-30s, but still, you’ve got to give him a rest at some point.

“I imagine it could well be tomorrow so we’ll wait and see on that.”

‘Great future ahead of him’

Smith famously made the FA Cup final squad in 2020 ahead of Mesut Ozil and Matteo Guendouzi.

The midfielder joined the Arsenal ranks aged eight and currently plays for their Under-21s.

Smith has also taken in three loan stints while on the Gunners’ books – at Swindon, Charlton and Doncaster.

The Arsenal website has described him as a ‘technically gifted central midfielder with an impressive passing range’.

As per football.london, coaches at Arsenal have deemed Smith a ‘composed midfielder with an eye for a pass’.

They have also described him as a player who ‘typically looks to operate as a deep-lying playmaker, tasked with controlling the tempo of games and picking out runners in the final third.’

Football.london added: ‘Arteta should be taking notice of Smith. He is a player with a great future ahead of him and he is already making all of the right noises at youth-level.

‘Mesut Ozil’s has recently struggled in the role of being Arsenal’s architect to make things happen and with Smith’s creative ability on the ball he may see himself as a long-term successor for the German.’

Meanwhile, Arsenal youth team expert Jeorge Bird has called Smith a ‘superb passer’, and the player has even been compared to Ozil on Twitter.