Arsenal have new wildcard option as Mikel Arteta searches for left-wing solution

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Two matches, two different players, and so far no obvious answer for Arsenal.

A hamstring injury to Christos Tzolis opened up a spot on the left wing and Mikel Arteta has been going through the audition process.

Noni Madueke against Leeds and then Eberechi Eze against Lille had bright moments and goal involvements without really making themselves undroppable.

There is plenty still for Arteta to ponder, including a third potential option as he searches for his left-wing solution.

No player shows the full range of good and bad as regularly as Madueke.

He is Arsenal’s most direct runner with the ball at his feet and nobody in the squad is better at beating a defender.

Madueke’s pace is a real attribute in an attack otherwise lacking in that, and against Leeds he showed he can be a real threat on the left wing.

As a left-footer, his instinct is naturally to go on the outside and that leads to more crosses being put into the box.

Noni Madueke switched over to the right after impressing on the left against LeedsGettyHowever, his end product is incredibly frustrating. The sample size is also big enough now to suspect that is not going to change.

In the win over Lille on Tuesday night, Madueke kept getting into good positions and then kept failing to execute. He put in 15 crosses in his hour on the pitch and only one was accurate.

Bukayo Saka, by contrast, came on and found the target with both of his two crosses.

That is simply part of the equation with Madueke. He needs a high volume of crosses and chances to eventually make a decisive contribution and against the top sides, when those opportunities are more limited, he is not as ruthless as Arteta would like.

What Eze offers as a left winger is very different.

He is not going to consistently get past his man on the outside and deliver crosses like Madueke would.

Nor does he have the pace to make runs in behind and offer Arsenal an out-ball, particularly when the opposition is pressing high.

Instead, Eze will drift more inside than any of Arsenal’s other options on the left wing. He is most comfortable in central positions.

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Madueke plays more as a traditional winger, creating opportunities for others, but Eze offers a much greater goal threat.

He has no real desire to stay wide. Against Lille, he had 12 touches in the opposition’s box. No other Arsenal player had more than seven.

Eberechi Eze scored his first goal of the season in Arsenal’s win over LilleGettyEze also led the way for shots and got his goal from close to the penalty spot when making the run inside and being picked out by Saka.

“A lot of the stuff I do will happen from out wide and drifting inside, that’s just the way I play,” Eze said on Tuesday.

He is perhaps not the best fit to partner Riccardo Calafiori on the left. Eze would benefit more from an overlapping full-back, rather than one roaming into the same central areas.

Taking the team’s best attacker away from his best position does not make much sense at first glance.

Saka has also been in good scoring form this season, with six goals already for club and country.

On top of that, his combinations with Martin Odegaard and Ben White on the right wing have often been responsible for Arsenal’s best attacking performances over the past four seasons.

However, Saka has tweaked his game in the first couple of months of this campaign.

Bukayo Saka scored and assisted as Arsenal beat LilleGettyThere is far more of a focus on getting into the six-yard box, with the majority of goals this season one-touch finishes from close range.

He is no longer staying out wide and being doubled up on, and that desire to sniff out goals in a central position could still work when starting from the left.

It is perhaps not a solution for the current moment or even this season, but Saka switching wings could become more of a discussion if Max Dowman’s development continues on the same trajectory.

Arteta has not used Dowman on the left wing. Instead, when he came on against Lille, it was Saka who swapped flanks so Dowman could be used on the right.

For now, there is no rush with Dowman. However, it will not be long until he is banging down the door for more starts. A change of position for Saka could be a way to accommodate both.