Arteta must finally bin 5/10 Arsenal flop who lost 9 duels

After a miserable start to the week following their 0-0 Premier League draw with Everton, Arsenal had a point to prove in the League Cup last night.

Mikel Arteta’s side played host to Crystal Palace in the knowledge that victory would see them progress to the semi-finals, so when they went 1-0 down early on, things looked bleak.

Fortunately, the Spaniard made a raft of changes at half-time, and the likes of Gabriel Jesus, Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka and Wiliam Saliba guided the team to what was ultimately a comfortable 3-2 win.

However, while there were several stellar performances in the end, a couple of starters stood out for the wrong reasons and, as a result, must not start on Saturday afternoon, including Jakub Kiwior.

Jakub Kiwior’s game vs Crystal Palace

Yes, arguably Arsenal’s worst performer last night was Polish international Kiwior.

Now, it would be unfair to be too hyper-critical of the former Spezia ace, as due to the sensational partnership of Gabriel Magalhães and Saliba, he rarely gets a chance to play, but just like in the game against Fulham a couple of weeks ago, he was primarily at fault for the game’s opening goal.

Just four minutes in, he was thoroughly beaten by a simple long ball from Dean Henderson, which allowed Jean-Philippe Mateta to fire the Eagles into a surprise lead.

On top of that, like some of his fellow defenders, he appeared to get his positioning all wrong for Eddie Nketiah’s consolation goal, which in turn set up a rather nervy conclusion to the game.

Unsurprisingly, the watching press was not impressed by the 24-year-old’s display and football.london’s Chief Arsenal writer, Kaya Kaynak, gave him just a 5/10 match rating at full-time, writing that his ‘mistake for the Mateta goal was unforgivable’ and that he ‘never looked fully comfortable against the Frenchman.’

Overall, it was a poor showing from Kiwior, and with Gabriel now back to full fitness, he should be dropped for the game on Saturday, along with one of last night’s other significant underperformers, Raheem Sterling.

Raheem Sterling’s game vs Crystal Palace

Now, the first thing to say is that, unlike Kiwior, Sterling was not directly responsible for any single moment as disastrous as Mateta’s goal, but that doesn’t mean he was effective either.

In fact, despite playing 70 minutes of football last night, the former Manchester City ace had practically zero impact on the game whatsoever, which, for an attacking player, is arguably as poor as a defender making a mistake that leads to a goal.

For example, during his time on the pitch, the Kingston-born ace, who also received a 5/10 rating from Kayak, failed to score or assist a goal despite taking two shots on target, failed in 50% of his dribbles, missed two big chances, took 35 touches, completed just 14 passes, misplaced 50% of his crosses, lost nine of 13 duels, lost the ball twice, was dribbled past once and was offside once as well.

Simply put, it was a dire showing from a player who has bags of natural talent, and while it might sound harsh, his loan move is starting to look more and more like a mistake, or as content creator Connor Humm said, an “absolute waste of time.”

For example, since making the increasingly common move from the west of the capital to N5, the 30-year-old has made just 11 appearances for the Gunners, five of which have been starts, in which he’s scored once against Bolton Wanderers and provided two assists to boot.

The good news is that he’ll have time to turn things around this season, as reports have revealed that Arteta and Co have no interest in cutting his loan short next month.

However, considering how underwhelming he was against Palace last night, Sterling must be dropped for the game at Selhurst Park on Saturday, as any more dropped points in the league would be disastrous.