It was the 72nd minute of the Champions League match between Arsenal and Shakhtar Donetsk. The Gunners' left back, Riccardo Calafiori, had to leave the field after he had dangerously bent his knee earlier. It didn't look very good and needed to be changed. Unfortunately, although Jakub Kiwior was sitting on the bench, Mikel Arteta preferred to play the much less experienced 18-year-old Myles Lewis-Skelly.
Arsenal ended up with some strange defenses. Kiwior just watched from the bench
It was also the second time in the match when the Spaniard did not let the Pole in for a defender because Ben White did not come out for the second half. It is true that he is a right defender, but it was always possible to move the players a bit so that at least the actual defenders played on defense. However, White was replaced by midfielder Mikel Merino, while another midfield player, Thomas Partey, finished the match on the defensive side.
Both of these changes are a clear signal that Jakub Kiwior could have been left on the bench for good after his disastrous performance against Bournemouth (0:2). Let us recall that the Pole was introduced in the first half because of William Saliba's red card, but in the second half of the match he made a fatal error that contributed to Arsenal losing the second goal. Immediately after this situation, Kiwior went down, i.e. he got a “fishing rod”.
Arteta has a lot of problems, and Liverpool are on their way
It's all just more trouble for Mikel Arteta, and at an ugly time. On Sunday, October 27, Premier League leader Liverpool will come to London, a team stronger than perhaps even Bournemouth and Shakhtar combined, and without Calafiori and Saliba, who is suspended for “red”, the Spanish coach has very limited options. Even the English media see this.
“The win against Shakhtar is valuable, but it came at a very high price. The potential injury and unavailability of Calafiori is another problem, and Saliba will be suspended, while Takehiro Tomiyasu and Jurren Timber are still injured. Arteta has a huge headache and a lot of problems to solve before clash with a fast-paced Liverpool,” writes “Sky Sports”.
“Arsenal finished the match against Shakhtar with Partey and Lewis-Skelly as full-backs. This reflects quite well the current defensive situation of Mikel Arteta's team, which, after all, will not have Saliba suspended against Liverpool. It is still unknown what is happening with Jurren's health Timber, so Calafiori's injury is a real tragedy before the six-point match against Liverpool,” we read in The Independent.
Kiwior doesn't keep Arsenal fans up at night?
Arsenal fans are also terrified of the whole situation. In the comments regarding injuries at Arsenal, we see that the prospect of Jakub Kiwior or Ukrainian defender Oleksandr Zinchenko playing is not something that makes London fans happy. “Kiwior or Zinchenko for Salah? Oh my gosh”, “We used to complain why we need so many defenders, and now most of them are unavailable and we will probably have to play Partey and Kiwior against Liverpool”, “We saw how the lack of regular play affected Kiwior “It will be difficult for him to play at even 70 percent capacity, especially against Liverpool,” these are just some of the comments.