Gary Neville thinks Mikel Arteta has drawn from Manchester City’s approach to address Arsenal’s left-back issue.
Oleksandr Zinchenko, who has been Arsenal’s primary left-back for the past few seasons, played in that position during their 2-0 win over Wolves on the opening day. However, Zinchenko’s performance has faced recent criticism due to a decline in form.
Instead of sticking with Zinchenko, Arteta chose Jurrien Timber for the left-back role against Aston Villa. Timber’s performance was commendable, as he won three out of five duels, made two tackles, one recovery, and completed 32 of 38 passes.
Since Timber is still recovering from an ACL injury and was tiring, Arteta substituted him with new signing Riccardo Calafiori—who had a strong showing as a centre-back for Italy at Euro 2024—to finish the game.
Neville has likened Arteta’s decision to use centre-backs on the left to Pep Guardiola’s effective use of Josko Gvardiol at left-back for Manchester City.
“Some of the most successful transfer windows is where you keep stability in your squad and you add one or two that make it the final two pieces of the jigsaw. In the two games against Villa last season, left-back was a problem,” Neville told Sky Sports.
“We saw what City did, in the last 10 games of the season, Josko Gvardiol’s impact from left-back was immense. Not just from a defensive point of view, but an attacking one – his power, strength, height. Arteta has reacted to that.
“He knows he has Timber coming back but he has Calafiori as well. He’s a big boy, powerful, strong, can play in a number of different positions. So that’s a definite response from what he needed last season.
“You talk about these fine margins of one goal or two goals that can tip the title race your way. That could be today. I like what Timber did, he kept a close eye on Leon Bailey. He’s a difficult person to play against but Timber was confident on the ball, he looked good when he went into midfield and still does the job of what Zinchenko does. And Calafiori when he came on looked really strong, up for the fight. He has that spirit about him.
“Zinchenko will still play his role against the bottom six or 10 teams, when you have a mountain of possession at home and you’re going to have to probe the ball through tight spaces. Zinchenko will be fantastic in those matches.
“But when you’re playing against a really top team and you need to keep a clean sheet, and you need someone at the back post who can defend and you need six big’uns, that’s when you’ll need Timber and Calafiori. He has got that now, Arteta – it’s a good way in which he has adapted.”
