Mikel Arteta has been told why Jakub Kiwior has helped Arsenal gain a tactical advantage. He played a key role in the Gunners' 4-1 win over Newcastle United in the Premier League on Saturday night.
The defender scored Arsenal's fourth goal at the Emirates Stadium, with Kai Havertz and Bukao Saka also on the score sheet with a Sven Botman own goal. Victory for the Gunners moved Arteta and Co. back to just two points behind leaders Liverpool in the league table.
The Gunners are third and one point behind second-placed Manchester City with 12 fixtures left to play. And Arteta opted to select Kiwior in his starting line-up at left-back alongside William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes and Ben White in defence.
Oleksandr Zinchenko, who has often been the preferred left-back for Arsenal, missed the game with a calf injury. And former Chelsea midfielder Craig Burley has praised Kiwior for the impact that he has made on Arsenal's defence.
Burley also argued that having Kiwior in the team helped add a tactical advantage compared to if Zincheno was in the line-up. He told ESPN: “[Jakub] Kiwior coming in for [Oleksandr] Zinchenko, it’s kind of stopped that, ’Oh, let’s go and sort of flaff about in the middle with the extra [player]’, he’s more of a natural full-back.
“So, they’ve all of a sudden got [Ben] White on one side, Kiwior on the other, and they’ve got four guys who, yeah, they’ll get forward, but guess what? They want to defend as well. And that’s given them some stability at the back.”
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Arsenal signed Kiwior from Spezia last summer in a deal worth £17.5 million plus a potential additional £3.5 million in add-ons. He has gone on to make 22 appearances for the Gunners, and his goal against Newcastle was his first since signing for the club.
