Noni Madueke flying at Arsenal - and what it means for Bukayo Saka position switch | OneFootball

Gunners need more from their attackers and Madueke has stepped up

Noni Madueke will have scanned the Premier League fixture list after arriving at Arsenal.

The two matches with former club Chelsea will have been noted. So too, perhaps, the date of his first north London derby.

Most other matches will have been passed over without much thought, but you would imagine the trip to Wolves got a second glance.

In a world of careful media training, it is not always easy to know exactly what footballers are thinking.

Madueke scored in Sunday’s 4-0 FA Cup win over Wigan

Arsenal FC via Getty Images

Occasionally, though, the guardrails are lowered, whether that be by good interviewing or by the confident character of a player. Or, in one particular case, by posting from the wrong Instagram account.

It was August 2024 and on the eve of a match when Madueke tagged the city of Wolverhampton in an Instagram post captioned: "Everything about this place is s***."

A few minutes later, that was replaced with: 'Damnn wrong instagram account. You lot are too fast."

Wolves fans might have eventually been able to view that as a humorous mistake had Madueke not followed it the next day with three goals.

Madueke was booed throughout but rose to the occasion in Chelsea's 6-2 win, scoring what remains the only professional hat-trick of his career.

The 23-year will be reunited with his Molineux friends tonight as Arsenal travel to take on the Premier League's bottom side.

The fixture had been scheduled for next month but has been rearranged due to the Gunners reaching the Carabao Cup final.

Manchester City's game against Crystal Palace could not be brought forward to this week due to the Eagles' involvement in the Conference League, with that set to be played later in the season instead.

Arsenal can move seven points clear at the top of the Premier League if they beat Wolves tonight

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It presents Arsenal with an opportunity to therefore move seven points clear at the top of the table and earn themselves a buffer for the coming weeks, before City eventually play their game in hand.

Mikel Arteta's side have dropped points the last four times City have played before them in a round of fixtures. This rearrangement could work in their favour in easing the pressure of that points gap.

That relies, of course, on beating Wolves, who have won just one of their 26 league matches this season. Madueke is in the best form of his Arsenal career and could have a key part to play.

An injury to Bukayo Saka in the warm-up at Leeds last month has proved something of a turning point.

It was Madueke who came into the starting lineup to replace him and he got a goal and an assist, his first goal involvements in the Premier League for Arsenal.

He has backed that up since with a brilliant header against Brentford and then a composed finish in the big FA Cup win over Wigan.

Madueke now has three goals and an assist in his last five matches and his form has allowed talk of Saka playing in midfield to gather pace.

Arsenal have not had a sufficient back-up option to Saka on the right wing in previous seasons. Arteta has had to take risks with his fitness.

Now, Saka can be brought out of the side when there are any fitness concerns. He can also be used as the No10 to fill that gap, with Madueke trusted on the wing.

Madueke’s form on the right means Bukayo Saka be moved into a midfield role

Action Images via Reuters

Arsenal's season in attack has not been about one person carrying the goalscoring load, but rather several players chipping in.

For that to work the responsibility must be passed, the players almost taking it in turns to produce mini-runs of hot form.

Madueke is currently on one of those. If that continues tonight, and there is anything like the repeat of his previous Molineux hat-trick, then Wolverhampton might creep further up in his estimations.