Former Scotland midfielder Craig Burley, who now works as an expert on ESPN, has positively assessed the changes in Arsenal's game after Ukrainian international Oleksandr Zinchenko was replaced by Jakub Kivior at left-back due to an injury.
Alexander Zinchenko"The arrival of Kivior instead of Zinchenko put an end to Arsenal's floundering in the centre of midfield with an extra player.
Kivior is a more classic, natural defender. At the same time, it turned out that even without Zinchenko, Arsenal have enough players to lead the attack, while actively participating in defensive actions. As a result, Arsenal have stability in defence.
So, Kivior's play and his role in Arsenal's system has had an extremely positive impact on the team's level - they are back in the championship race with Liverpool and Manchester City. At the same time, the "canoniers" in the last three matches in the APL conceded only one goal, and scored - as many as 15" - quotes the words of Burley Now Arsenal.
Recall, Kivior replaced Zinchenko at halftime of the match with Liverpool, which took place back on 4 February. Since then, the Ukrainian missed four Arsenal matches due to a recurrence of a calf muscle injury, and at his position in these matches Kivior invariably acted. According to media reports, Zinchenko has already recovered and will be ready to take part in the next Arsenal match, but now it seems to be a big question whether he will be able to return to the main squad of his team.
