TNT Sports pundit Lucy Ward has slammed Jakub Kiwior for the Arsenal defender’s ‘tough night’ at PSV Eindhoven against Tottenham Hotspur target, Johan Bakayoko.
The 23-year-old continued to give manager Mikel Arteta a versatile option in the Champions League tie on Tuesday. Kiwior has now made six of his 12 appearances in all competitions so far this term as a left-back. His other games have been in the Pole’s natural centre-back role.
Arteta sought to start Kiwior as his left-back at PSV as Arsenal rotated their team for a dead-rubber match. Oleksandr Zinchenko was given the night off in Eindhoven having struggled at Aston Villa last Saturday. Kiwior had not started a fixture in Europe this term before Tuesday.
PSV Eindhoven’s Johan Bakayoko gave Arsenal’s Jakub Kiwior a ‘tough night’
Only six of Kiwior’s 12 appearances so far this season have come in Arsenal’s starting line-up after facing PSV. The 23-year-old has made half of his starts in the Premier League with only one coming as a centre-half. His other starts came in the Gunners’ two Carabao Cup games.
It was not the return to the starting line-up that Kiwior would have hoped for on Tuesday as PSV came from behind to hold Arsenal to a 1-1 draw. The £58k-a-week enforcer struggled to restrict what Bakayoko tried on Boren’s right flank to leave Ward feeling very unimpressed.
“Kiwior has had a tough night at left-back,” Ward stated on TNT Sports 2 (12/12, 19:15). “It’s not his natural position and Bakayoko has been running at him, as well.”
Johan Bakayoko gave a great audition amid transfer interest at Liverpool and Tottenham
PSV forward Bakayoko left a big impression on Ward with his dynamic runs against Arsenal’s makeshift left-back, Kiwior, on Tuesday. But the former England attacker felt he should have achieved more from dominating the duel. The 20-year-old failed to score or lay on an assist.
“He does a lot of good work outside the box,” Ward added. “But I want to see something at the end of it. Can he get a better shot? Can he get an assist? He’s really positive, though, the young man on the right-hand side.”
Bakayoko was always going to test Kiwior and Arsenal having offered PSV four goals, plus 13 assists, this season. The nine-cap Belgian penned just one goal and one assist in six Group B appearances, though. But his efforts have drawn widespread interest in the Premier League.
According to 90min, Liverpool are mulling Bakayoko’s transfer as a long-term successor for Mohamed Salah but Tottenham are also tracking the winger. Brentford are also hopeful they can seal his transfer in January after failing with a £34m move at the end of August this year.
Bakayoko rejected Brentford’s swoop in the summer sales to fulfil his dream of playing in the Champions League. That dream led the Overijse native to winning seven of his eight ground duels against Arsenal as Kiwior lost four of his eight against PSV, per SofaScore, on Tuesday.
What Bakayoko showed against Arsenal on a ‘tough night’ for Kiwior may even tempt Arteta to join the race for his transfer. The PSV winger could hand the Gunners a valuable option as the primary understudy for Bukayo Saka, who has suffered several injuries already this term.
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