Danny Murphy thought one Arsenal player almost cost his side the win against Wolverhampton Wanderers yesterday evening.
Mikel Arteta’s side certainly weren’t at their free-flowing best in the game, but found a way to win ‘ugly’ and relied on another fantastic clean sheet.
Arsenal’s defensive record has been outstanding this season, and a lot is owed to the centre-back partnership of Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba.
The duo are both exceptional individually, but also compliment each other so well in a pair.
Ben White has also been phenomenal on the right, Arsenal’s utility man who can do a bit of everything.
And as well as overlapping Bukayo Saka, which he’s done so well for so long now, we’ve also discovered White’s ability to invert into midfield.
That being said, Arsenal aren’t having so much luck on the left given Jurrien Timber has missed the majority of the season.
And having watched Jakub Kiwior in the early stages of Arsenal’s win yesterday, Danny Murphy wasn’t impressed.
Danny Murphy thought Jakub Kiwior nearly cost Arsenal the win against Wolves yesterday
The pundit was speaking on the BBC’s Match of the Day, analysing Arsenal’s slow start to the game.
And when praising David Raya for a ‘fantastic’ reaction-stop, Danny Murphy thought Jakub Kiwior nearly let Wolves score at the worst time.
He explained: “I think inevitably first half there was going to be some anxiety, some sloppiness if you like after the disappointing week they’ve had – those two defeats.
“And they grew into the game, but the first half they did give Wolves a head up.
“And I mean Wolves were decent first half but they [Arsenal] caused their own problems at times, with the ball a little bit tentative, a little bit sloppy, very unlike Arsenal.
“They’ve set tremendous standards for themselves this season, started games well generally, I mean last week was their first defeat this year, that’s how well they’ve done, against Villa.
“Kiwior making a really poor error [letting Joao Gomes in], his goalkeeper gets him out here.
“You see with the replay, a fantastic save at a crucial moment in the game because if they had of gone a goal down then they could have got disappointed and deflated.
“Saliba, Mr Cool, even he was getting a little bit flustered, poor finish in the end there by [Hugo] Bueno.”
Time for Mikel Arteta to sign a new left-back this summer?
Of course, given the issues Arsenal have had at left-back this season it’s logical that they would recruit in the summer.
Perhaps a combination of Oleksandr Zinchenko and Jakub Kiwior’s skill-sets would suffice, but individually they have weaknesses in their game.
Takehiro Tomiyasu is potentially the answer if he can stay fit, but Arsenal would surely prefer him to dovetail with Ben White on the right.
Of course, the combination of attributes described above may actually be found in Jurrien Timber, who looked incredibly strong early in the season.
Timber will need to be tested over a full campaign, but it seems like all the ability is there.
Jakub Kiwior certainly doesn’t need to be sold, the £20m-defender can still be an asset as Gabriel’s back up.
But he doesn’t necessarily have the skill-set Arsenal need at left-back when looking to the long-term.
All that being said, Arsenal have been told they could sign an ‘extraordinary’ striker for a cut-price this summer.
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