Mikel Arteta must drop Arsenal star for Aston Villa game | OneFootball

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta should consider a change at left-back for the Premier League game at Aston Villa next Saturday.

The Gunners started their campaign with a 2-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers at the Emirates Stadium yesterday.

Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka scored for the London giants, but they could have easily conceded a couple of goals after a few defensive errors.

David Raya was splendid between the sticks with three saves, including one from point-blank range which was praised by manager Gary O’Neil.

William Saliba and Thomas Partey were guilty of gifting possession to Wolves, but Oleksandr Zinchenko had a tougher outing in the curtain-raiser.

The 27-year-old impressed during the pre-season campaign, but he struggled to impose himself yesterday and won just four out of 10 duels.

The left-back also lost possession on 11 occasions, committing three fouls.

Wolves had a clear plan to attack from the right and manager Mikel Arteta eventually replaced him with Jurrien Timber in the 69th minute.

Arteta has to replace Zinchenko with Timber vs Villa

Zinchenko has been a weak link in the Gunners backline. He lost his starting spot during the back end of last season with Jakub Kiwior and Takehiro Tomiyasu stepping up.

The Ukrainian star deserved to start against Wolves after a bright pre-season, but Arteta has to replace him with Timber next weekend after an underwhelming display.

Timber won the same number of duels (four) as Zinchenko after coming on. Just like Saliba, he gifted one big chance to Wolves, but Raya saved his blushes.

He looked more assured in possession in his short cameo and should get the nod as Zinchenko could struggle against Leon Bailey’s pace.

Arsenal were outclassed by Villa on the counter-attack in both outings last term and need to guard against the same with a more defensively organised left-back.

Kiwior and Riccardo Calafiori are other quality options at the manager’s disposal, but the former could be heading for the exit door before the transfer window closes.

Summer signing Calafiori only had a brief cameo in the Emirates Cup versus Lyon. He could be eased into action by Arteta during the first few games of the season.

Stats from Sofascore.com.