So far in 2024, pretty much everything Mikel Arteta touches turns to gold. Or at least luminous yellow, the colours of Arsenal‘s garish away kit that is threatening to become a cult classic on account of the number of goals they score in it.
The Gunners have won nine of their 11 fixtures in all competitions this year including eight in a row in the Premier League – scoring 33 goals and conceding only four in the process – to surge to the summit ahead of Sunday’s critical clash with title rivals Manchester City.
Before this relentless run, Arsenal endured a fallow period, picking up just four points in five games in December which led to Arteta making a few subtle tweaks to get them back on track, the most surprising of which has been the frequent use of Jakub Kiwior at left-back.
It was a decision initially borne out of necessity. Injuries to Oleksandr Zinchenko, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Jurrien Timber effectively forced Arteta to turn to Kiwior, a left-footed centre-back who was, to all intents and purposes, Arsenal’s fourth-choice option in both positions at the start of the season.
The Poland international’s opportunity arrived at half-time of Arsenal’s 3-1 win over Liverpool in early February after Zinchenko suffered a calf strain.
He seized it and what began as a stop-gap solution has become a more permanent arrangement: Kiwior has started each of Arsenal’s last seven games – five in the Premier League and both Champions League last-16 legs against Porto – and is expected to keep his place for Arsenal’s biggest match of the campaign.
The 24-year-old has been one of their most consistent performers since coming into the team, but his good form hasn’t attracted much attention outside of the red half of north London. He is impressing the people that matter, though.
“I think he’s adapted really well,” Arteta said at the start of March. “I think he’s playing better and better, and you can tell that he’s earning confidence, and physically he’s better. He understands the role much better and he’s been really good.”
Initially, it looked like a doomed experiment. From August until December, Kiwior started as a left-back in three Premier League matches, all of which were among Arsenal’s most unconvincing performances of the season: a 2-2 draw with Fulham at the Emirates, a 4-3 win over Luton and a 2-1 defeat to Fulham.
Kiwior was substituted after 64 minutes at Kenilworth Road and at half-time at Craven Cottage after struggling in an unfamiliar role. The main difference between then and now is that he is playing as a more orthodox full-back, instead of in the more complex, inverted role that has become Zinchenko’s forte.
Although good on the ball, Kiwior lacks the technical poise of Zinchenko, who began his career as a central midfielder and still plays there for Ukraine. Paring down his responsibilities has enabled him to flourish and given Arsenal extra solidity in defence. Helpfully for Arsenal, he is playing in a similar role for his country albeit as the left-sided defender in a back three.
“Jakub is a great defensive, aggressive player with a great mentality and attitude,” Karol Belanik, sporting director at one of Kiwior’s former clubs MSK Zilina, told i.
“He played a few games for Zilina in a left-back position. Later he moved to central defender, so he has some experience with it from the past.
“Kiwior meets the defensive requirements and maybe the intention of the manager. They probably needed more of a balance between defence and offence.”
His 6ft 2ins height is an added bonus for a team that have become the Premier League’s set-play masters. Arsenal have scored 18 set-piece goals (excluding penalties) this season, three more than any other club, and have conceded only five, the third-best record in the division. Kiwior was on target recently, heading in from a Declan Rice corner in the win over Newcastle.
Kiwior’s defensive aptitude and aerial threat are to be expected. Less predictable is his influence as an overlapping full-back. The headline stat is that he has managed three assists in his last six league games, but it’s a slightly misleading one: two of the goals scored were individual efforts from Leandro Trossard (vs Liverpool) and Kai Havertz (vs Burnley) from a Kiwior header and a throw-in, both of which were in his own half.
The third assist is more indicative of his growing confidence, with Kiwior charging forward on the outside and playing a one-two with Gabriel Martinelli to score in the 6-0 win over Sheffield United. He is unlikely to morph into Roberto Carlos anytime soon, but Arteta probably wouldn’t want him to: he is there primarily to offer a left-footed balance, height in both boxes and general reliability. Anything else is a bonus.
Dependability is an underappreciated asset in football. At the moment, Kiwior is a more reassuring presence in Arsenal’s defence than Zinchenko.
The Ukrainian is a popular player among the fanbase but there were audible groans from the stands when he lost possession in dangerous areas during a nervy cameo against Porto.
“He was already a complete football player with a quality aerial cross and a great header in Zilina,” Belanik says of Kiwior, who played for Zilina, one of Slovakia’s most successful clubs, between 2019-21.
“He only played the left-back position at the beginning, mostly playing at central back, but even in that position he was creative and accurate in his passing.
“In general, we preferred attacking football in Zilina, we’ve got it in our DNA, that’s why we demanded it from Jakub as well.”
A cliche that tends to pop up around this time of year is that a title-winning squad is only as good as its squad players.
Bukayo Saka, Rice and William Saliba are Arsenal’s obvious poster boys, but unsung heroes like Kiwior have a key role to play if the Gunners are to deny City a second consecutive treble and Jurgen Klopp a fairytale ending at Liverpool.
Kiwior’s initial impact at Arsenal was so limited that he was linked with a return to Italy, where he previously excelled with Spezia, in both transfer windows in which he’s been contracted to the club. Ultimately, he stuck around and both he and Arsenal are now reaping the rewards.
“We don’t want to say we’re not surprised, he’s playing great football, but to play in Arsenal’s starting 11 is extraordinary,” says Belanik. Considering his ascension from reserve centre-back to starting left-back it is hard to disagree with him.
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