Arsenal star Declan Rice has a new nickname for Oleksandr Zinchenko following the win against Luton Town last night.
Mikel Arteta made plenty of changes against the Hatters. Bukayo Saka missed the game due to injury, while Declan Rice, Gabriel Jesus, Jakub Kiwior and Jorginho were all rested.
Those changes hurt Arsenal‘s rhythm at times, but the Gunners’ quality was too much for Luton to deal with. Martin Odegaard‘s opener followed by an own goal by Daiki Hashioka sealed a comfortable win.
Zinchenko, who started at left-back, seems to have impressed Rice with his composure.
Declan Rice gives new nickname to Arsenal’s Oleksandr Zinchenko
The Arsenal squad is so competitive these days, isn’t it?
Every player is up for it every single game, especially the regular starters, which is why Mikel Arteta doesn’t really have a lot of room to make changes.
That’s why so many players in the Arsenal squad haven’t got the minutes they would’ve liked this season, but a few of them got their opportunities last night.
One such player is Oleksandr Zinchenko!
The Ukrainian has fallen behind both Jakub Kiwior and Takehiro Tomiyasu in the pecking order and hadn’t started a game since February before last night.
Zinchenko didn’t have his greatest game against Luton, but it looks like his calmness on the ball impressed Declan Rice, who watched him on from the bench.
Replying to the defender’s Instagram post last night, Rice gave him a new nickname – “Mr composure!”
Oleksandr Zinchenko’s stats vs Luton are very interesting
As we said above, Oleksandr Zinchenko didn’t have his best game for Arsenal.
He lost possession 11 times, gave the ball away in dangerous positions on a couple of occasions, and Gabriel Magalhaes had to save him after a mistake at one point.
However, there are positives to take. Zinchenko won every single duel he contested last night. He also made two tackles. two interceptions and five clearances, which is really good.
It’s always hard for a player to come into the team after a long time and get going, especially in a side that made as many changes as Arsenal did last night.
However, getting a start after two months would’ve helped Zinchenko, who could still be a very important player for Arsenal in the coming weeks.
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