Takehiro Tomiyasu was in sensational form for Arsenal against Lens on Wednesday night.
Arsenal secured passage to the knockout rounds of the Champions League as group winners with a 6-0 win at the Emirates Stadium. Amidst all the scintillating attacking play, Takehiro Tomiyasu was still able to stand out.
Tomiyasu was only on the pitch for the first 45 minutes of the match. At half time, with the north London club 5-0 up, Mikel Arteta took the opportunity to make some changes. The Japanese right-back came off in place of usual starter Ben White, who is working his was back to full fitness.
Despite only being involved for the first half, Tomiyasu was still able to make an enormous impact on the match. It was perhaps his best performance in an Arsenal shirt, certainly in an attacking sense, since he joined the club in a £19.8 million switch from Bologna in the summer of 2021.
Against Lens, Tomiyasu worked tirelessly to consistently get up the pitch and support Bukayo Saka on the right flank in the final third. He was rewarded for this attacking endeavour with two assists. The first came when his raking cross-field pass was brought down by Gabriel Martinelli, who then went on a mazy run before firing home.
On the stroke of halt-time, Tomiyasu made another overlapping run beyond Saka who picked out the 25-year-old. The full-back then dug out a chipped cross to club captain Martin Odegaard, who duly dispatched the ball into the back of the net.
Arsenal fans laud Takehiro Tomiyasu
The fact that he was taken off at half-time suggests that Arteta intends to start Tomiyasu in the Premier League against Wolves this weekend. Plenty of Arsenal fans on X are desperate for that to be the case after his showing against Lens.
One fan said it “looks like White will seat on the bench for a while now.” Another supporter agreed, saying, “Tomiyasu is definitely starting on Saturday again wolves.” Another fan who believes Tomiyasu will be named in the starting XI against Wolves described the defender’s performance against Lens as “ridiculous.”
Many of the Emirates Stadium faithful were wowed by Tomiyasu’s first half showing, with one stating that “his improvement deserves a monument” Another declared him the “first half man of the match for me.” Another claimed that Tomiyasu “already put up a classic in this first 45 mins. He’s running the show.”
After he impressed at left-back earlier this season, many Arsenal fans called for Tomiyasu to usurp Oleksandr Zinchenko in the pecking order. Now, off the back of this Champions League outing, the versatile 36-cap Japan international may well have edged ahead of White, for the time being at least.
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