Journalist James McNicholas believes that one impressive Arsenal player is now set for a spell on the fringes of the squad.
Mikel Arteta now finds himself in the fortunate position of having an almost fully fit Arsenal squad.
With the likes of Oleksandr Zinchenko, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Thomas Partey, and Fabio Vieira, amongst others, having returned to action in recent weeks, Jurrien Timber is the only remaining absentee at the Emirates Stadium.
Arsenal’s flurry of players coming back to fitness has arrived at the perfect time. The Gunners now face a hectic run-in, with Premier League and Champions League fixtures coming thick and fast. Every single game matters hugely.
If the North London club are to be crowned champions this season then they will have to be near-perfect for the rest of the campaign. Jamie Carragher’s points target for Arsenal to win the Premier League title leaves very little margin for error.
The Arsenal left-back conundrum
Arteta will need to use his squad depth wisely to negotiate this period. As he did against Luton Town recently, there will be occasions when the Spanish coach has to heavily rotate his regular starting XI.
However, due to the abundance of options now available to him, there are certain players who are now likely to only receive limited game time in the coming weeks.
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Jakub Kiwior is one player who could now find himself on the outskirts of the squad. Whilst Zinchenko and Tomiyasu were working their way back to fitness, the Polish defender did an admirable job at left-back, despite being a centre-back by trade.
At one stage it was suggested that Kiwior had even established himself as the first-choice left-back at the Emirates Stadium due to the composed nature of his performances.
However, the 24-year-old has now not featured at all in the Gunners’ last two matches as Zinchenko and Tomiyasu have shared the left-back duties. This suggests that the £58,000-a-week ace is also now unlikely to feature against Bayern Munich in the first-leg of Arsenal’s Champions League clash against the German giants on Tuesday evening.
Has Jakub Kiwior fallen down the Arsenal pecking order?
James McNicholas believes that Kiwior has now dropped back down the pecking order. Speaking on the Arsecast Extra podcast, the reporter said, “franky, if he has now kind of made his major contribution for the season, I don’t think it will be forgotten because he was incredibly important at a time when we had three left-backs out injured for various reasons…my hunch is that he has kind of had his moment in the season and if players stay fit, his role might be fairly peripheral moving forward.”
Of course, fitness issues or suspension could force Kiwior back into the spotlight before the end of the season, but Arteta may well prefer the extra experience offered by both Tomiyasu and Zinchenko in this final phase of the campaign.