Does Arsenal need to give Oleks Zinchenko more gametime to keep him fresh? | OneFootball

The Ukrainian international Oleks Zinchenko has found himself in a pretty unwanted situation with the Gunners this season. Along with the constant struggle with injuries, he has also seen himself fall down the pecking order due to the arrival of Riccardo Calafiori in the summer as well as the return of Jurrien Timber this season.

It’s pretty obvious that Arteta has lost faith in the man that brought a lot to our squad when he made the move to join us in 2022. No one will blame Arteta for losing faith. After his first season with us, Zinchenko has brought a sense of vulnerability to our backline due to his weakness in defending 1v1 situations. Couple that with the competition that the aforementioned duo of Calafiori and Timber brought to the squad, then you can easily see why he has made just three Premier League appearances this season.

This shouldn’t be the case IMO for a player of this quality, he does have vulnerabilities but certainly there’s enough in his locker still to offer that we can afford him starting against low caliber oppositions. Apart from Riccardo Calafiori, no other choice at left-back can do better than Zinchenko in the attacking phase of play.

Oleksandr Zinchenko of Arsenal battles for possession with Dejan Kulusevski of Tottenham Hotspur during the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and Tottenham Hotspur at Emirates Stadium on September 24, 2023 (Photo by Alex Pantling/Getty Images)

As we all can recall, his ability to invert into the midfield when he first arrived at Arsenal formed the foundations to our very fluid attack in that campaign. I concede that there’s no use for him starting against high caliber oppositions now but you can’t tell me that a player like Zinchenko won’t fit playing against inferior opponents who are just happy to sit in a low block, his skills will definitely be needed in those sort of games which is why I think Arteta should be giving him more playing time.

We’ve certainly outgrown him, but when a player like Calafiori gets injured then Oleks should certainly be a consideration for replacing him which hasn’t been the case this season. I suspect that will still be the case heading into the Forest game due to reports stating the likely return of Calafiori for that game.

Thoughts on this gooners?

BENJAMIN KENNETH.

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