Riccardo Calafiori certainly delivered a comprehensive performance on his full Arsenal debut against Manchester City – the perfect character for such an occasion.
Calafiori’s first Arsenal goal will live long in the memory, a stunning strike which completely turned the tide of the game.
Man City were dominating, but the Italian inspired belief amongst his teammates.
That being said, Arsenal fans spotted a weakness in Calafiori’s performance, even if it was an overwhelmingly positive start.
According to Sofascore, Calafiori completed 94% of his 17 passes, made four clearances and three tackles in total.
And when you consider that Jurrien Timber and Kai Havertz didn’t complete a single pass in the 90 minutes, that’s some going.
Riccardo Calafiori improved after his ‘poor start’ for Arsenal
Despite noticing some weaknesses in Calafiori’s early performance, Troy Deeney included the Italian in his Team of the Week alongside Gabriel Magalhaes.
And when explaining his decision, Deeney wasn’t just impressed with Calafiori’s goal, saying he defended so smartly when Arsenal were down to 10 men.
Trossard was criticised for his red card, an incident that should have been avoidable for a player of his experience.
But the situation did allow Calafiori to display all of his exciting attributes.
Deeney said: “Calafiori had a poor start but grew into the game.
“He scored an unbelievable goal but I thought his tactical nous, and his understanding of defending when his side were a player down, was excellent.”
Myles Lewis-Skelly is already a Mikel Arteta defender
Speaking of defenders who enjoyed some success against Man City, Myles Lewis-Skelly perhaps enjoyed his biggest moment in an Arsenal shirt to date.
In similar fashion to Ethan Nwaneri against Tottenham, Lewis-Skelly was trusted in incredibly tough circumstances, a situation he was able to cope with.
Of course, the 17-year-old has made the headlines for his yellow card, received because of his gestures towards David Raya, asking his goalkeeper to waste more time.
Ian Wright was baffled by one decision Arteta made at half-time, but it’s hard to argue with how the Spaniard managed his team after that.
Arsenal were crestfallen at the final whistle, a sign of how far the whole squad has come.
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