Mikel Arteta finds unlikely undroppable in Arsenal’s effective new system

Ainsley Maitland-Niles was on the verge of an Arsenal exit just last month.

Newcastle and Wolves tabled bids for the academy graduate, who looked set to be sold on to raise funds for Mikel Arteta.

But Arteta put his foot down and kept Maitland-Niles at the club, insisting he had a part to play.

After a man of the match performance in the Community Shield win over Liverpool, he was handed an England call-up for the Nations League games.

In Arsenal ’s Premier League opener against Fulham, he was again handed a start – and in an unlikely turnaround he is now looking like an undroppable member of Arteta’s side.

Whilst Arteta arguably has more talented players at his disposal, he has found a way to get the best out of his side with a fluid system.

He has been utilising Maitland-Niles as a left wing-back when they are without the ball.

But he slots inside as a central midfielder when Arsenal have the ball with Kieran Tierney overlapping from left centre-back to offer width.

The flexibility is only possible because of Maitland-Niles’ versatility and energy, attributes which are rare to find.

As a result, he is becoming an increasingly key player with whom Arteta’s side would not be able to operate in the same way – just weeks after he looked set to leave the club.

Speaking at half-time, Rio Ferdinand explained the role Maitland-Niles plays and how it enables Arsenal to benefit.

“This is the key in the first-half,” he told BT Sport.

“Maitland-Niles is a wing back and when you speak about wing backs you’d expect him to be in the wide areas, coming out consistently throughout the game.

“He’s done anything put that, he comes in, passes the ball and his first run after that is to run inside and create an overload in midfield.

“He comes straight into the midfield area and what that does is it causes confusion and causes them to have more numbers in there than they’d usually have.

“After that you’ve got the width being created by Aubameyang, your main goalscoring threat, and the left-sided centre-half, Tierney, he’s the man who creates the width.

“It’s so different to what you expect from a three at the back. You normally see it being quite rigid and you know where people are.

“When you’re a player out there and you don’t see players in the positions you expect to see them in, that is a confusing element.

“That’s what Arteta seems to be doing and we see are they a well-drilled team? Yes they are.”

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