Journalist Charles Watts believes that Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta now faces a tough selection dilemma due to the good recent form of Jakub Kiwior.
Jakub Kiwior has certainly impressed for Arsenal in recent weeks.
With Oleksandr Zinchenko and Takehiro Tomiyasu both sidelined by injury, Mikel Arteta has had to call upon Kiwior to start at left-back in each of Arsenal’s last two matches.
The Polish defender is a centre-back by trade, but has been required to fill-in at left-back on numerous occasions in his Arsenal career. In the past, this has meant that the 24-year-old has been tasked with replicating the inverted fashion of playing the position that Zinchenko excels at.
When the Ukrainian is fit and in the team, he habitually drifts into the middle of the park to bolster the midfield unit, rather than push forward up the touchline, staying wide, in the more traditional and orthodox manner for a full-back.
By coming inside, into the midfield zone, Zinchenko achieves two things. First, he attracts an opposition defender with him, leaving more space for the left-winger, usually Gabriel Martinelli, on the flank. The former Manchester City man is also able to get on the ball more himself, which when his supreme technical ability comes into play, as he is able to become an auxiliary playmaker of sorts for Arsenal.
Kiwior cannot do this. It is a ploy that has been tried in the past, and the £20 million former Spezia man never looked comfortable in his attempts to follow these tactical instructions. As such, Arteta has now tried something new.
How Mikel Arteta has managed to make Arsenal thrive with Jakub Kiwior at the back
With Kiwior at left-back, the Arsenal right-back Ben White has now been handed the responsibility of playing this inverted role, and the change has worked wonders. In their last two matches, the Gunners have scored 11 goals without reply. Bukayo Saka has struck four of those goals, notching up back-to-back braces in the Premier League.
Allowing White to move into the midfield area when Arsenal are in a build-up phase of play has created space for Saka, and the right-winger has exploited it mercilessly. The defender is also comfortable enough in possession to thrive in central areas. Arteta has been told that he has Marcelo Bielsa to thank for White’s ability to do this, as he made the player train as a midfielder in his time at Leeds United.
Charles Watts now wonders if this is a system that will remain in place for the long-term, with Kiwior in the team. Speaking on his Inside Arsenal YouTube platform, the reporter said, “it will be interesting to see what happens, when Zinchenko gets back fit, when Tomiyasu gets back fit, does he take Kiwior out the side? I mean, I think that says a lot about how well Kiwior is playing.”
“The biggest compliment you can pay him at the moment is that it is probably not a foregone conclusion right now, that when those players get fit that they walk straight back into the side, such is the form of Jakub Kiwior.”
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