Arsenal secured a 2-0 victory over Manchester United in the Premier League.
The Gunners were forced to make two big changes at the back ahead of the game at the Emirates. Gabriel Magalhaes and Riccardo Calafiori were both ruled out due to injuries.
With Ben White, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Myles Lewis-Skelly also unavailable, Mikel Arteta didn’t have too many options at the back. The Arsenal boss was forced to hand starts to Jakub Kiwior and Oleksandr Zinchenko.
William Saliba seems to be very impressed with one of them.
William Saliba has a new nickname for Arsenal’s Jakub Kiwior after beating Manchester United
Arsenal signed Kiwior from Spezia in January 2022.
The Pole was always viewed as a backup at the Emirates, which is why he hasn’t played a lot of football from the start under Arteta.
However, against Manchester United on Wednesday night, Kiwior was thrown into the mix to replace Gabriel, and he was very good.
The versatile Arsenal defender had one or two shaky moments in the first half, but he was almost flawless after the break. He dealt with everything without any trouble and really impressed everyone.
Arteta was delighted with Kiwior’s performance, and it looks like all of his teammates were really happy for him too.
After Kiwior posted a few pictures on his Instagram, several Arsenal players showed him love in the replies.
The one that caught our eye was from Saliba, who gave him a brand-new nickname. “Boss of Poland,” he wrote.
Jakub Kiwior’s stats vs Manchester United are so good
The game against Manchester United was Kiwior’s first start of the season for Arsenal in the Premier League.
Replacing any of the Gunners’ regular starters is not easy, but to fill Gabriel’s shoes against a tough opponent is an extremely difficult thing to do.
Kiwior, however, did Arteta and everyone else proud with his performance on Wednesday night.
In his 90 minutes on the pitch, the Pole had 61 touches of the ball and completed 47 of his 55 attempted passes, maintaining a decent 85 per cent passing accuracy. He also created a chance to score.
Defensively, Kiwior won four of his five attempted duels, made two tackles and four clearances. He wasn’t dribbled past a single time in the entire game. (Sofascore)
Arsenal fans were a bit sceptical about Kiwior before the game. Now, everyone’s praising him and that is magnificent to see.
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