Lee Dixon has hailed Arsenal star Jakub Kiwior but says that another left-back Oleksandr Zinchenko is a better player and better at keeping the ball.
Kiwior has been impressive for Arsenal lately and helped the team keep a clean sheet in a 1-0 Champions League second-leg victory over Porto on Tuesday.
The Poland international has started Arsenal’s last five Premier League games after he came off the bench to replace Zinchenko at half-time in a 3-1 win over Liverpool last month, and he even provided an assist.
Kiwior helped Arsenal secure consecutive clean sheets in 6-0 and 5-0 wins over West Ham and Burnley respectively and received high praise for his performances.
Zinchenko has been dealing with calf issues recently but is now fit, and some were surprised when he didn't start in Tuesday’s win over Porto.
Instead, the Ukrainian, who played a key role in Mikel Arteta's team last season, only came on for the last 15 minutes of extra time.
Kiwior, on the other hand, justified his selection and particularly impressed in the second half with his one-on-one defending.
When asked if he was surprised to see Kiwior start and what he thought of the 24-year-old’s performance, former Arsenal defender Dixon told Metro.co.uk: ‘I think you get a different type of performance from him.
‘He’s not as good a footballer as Zinchenko, he’s not as good on the ball. But there’s a consistent level of performance you can expect from him, around 7 out of 10.
‘I think in a European knockout game, where not conceding is very high on the list, that might have something to do with it. He’s a bit more reliable in that sense.’
Dixon feels that Zinchenko, along with teammate Gabriel Jesus, will still have vital roles to play this season as the Gunners look to land their first top-flight trophy in 20 years.
‘It takes all parts of a team to hit the performances they are hitting,’ Dixon added. Sometimes it’s a change of personnel – a little tweak.
‘Jesus has had injury problems and the players in that No.9 position have done really well, so the team has not really missed him in that respect.
‘Sometimes when you get injured you lose your place and it takes a while to get back in when the team are hitting the heights they are hitting at the moment.
‘Having said that, it’s a rotational game, and there’s no doubt they’ll be needed before the end of the season, given the amount of games and the high tempo they are playing at.
‘Jesus and Zinchenko will be a big plus for the team at some point.’
Lee Dixon was speaking to Metro on behalf of BetVictor.
