It's that time of year again, a time celebrated by Arsenal fans across the world: St Totteringham's Day.
Mikel Arteta's men made sure it was mathematically impossible for Tottenham Hotspur to finish above them in the Premier League this season on Sunday when they came away from N17 with all three points in hand. However, the last 20 minutes might have aged their fans three decades.
The Gunners were 3-0 ahead by halftime, but a momentary lapse of judgment from David Raya and a box kick from Declan Rice allowed Spurs back into the game, but the visitors managed to hold on and keep their title hopes alive.
There were several stand-out performances from the likes of Bukayo Saka and Kai Havertz, but there were also a few players who didn't cover themselves in glory and could be at risk of losing their place next week, such as Takehiro Tomiyasu.
Takehiro Tomiyasu's performance vs Tottenham
The Japan international wasn't dreadful against Spurs on Sunday afternoon and certainly wasn't as detrimental to his team's efforts as Raya was. However, he still struggled to stamp any authority on his side of the pitch and offered little going forward.
The former Bologna defender didn't impress football.london's chief Arsenal writer, Kaya Kaynak, who gave him a 6/10 on the day, writing that he was 'a little sloppy on the ball' and 'not always the best on the ball.' It might sound a little harsh given he wasn't directly at fault for any of the goals, but his numbers from the clash support Kaynak's opinion.
In his 96 minutes of action, the 25-year-old created a combined expected goal and assists figure of just 0.04, succeeded in just 15 of his 19 passes, made zero key passes, failed in both of his dribbles, missed one big chance, misplaced both of his long balls, lost nine of his ten duels, committed four fouls and lost the ball ten times.
Minutes
96'
Expected Goals
0.03
Expected Assists
0.01
Duels (Won)
10 (1)
Accurate Passes
15/19 (79%)
Possession Lost
10
Fouls
4
Dribbled Past
1
Attempted Dribbles (Successful)
2 (0)
Key Passes
0
Big Chances Missed
1
Long Balls (Accurate)
2 (0)
Crosses
0
It wasn't the best of showings from the Fukuoka-born ace and his lack of defensive solidity and offensive quality could see him lose his spot in the team for Saturday's game against a free-scoring Bournemouth side who cannot be underestimated.
Who could replace Takehiro Tomiyasu
There are really only two options to replace the 6 foot 2 titan at the moment, as while Jurrien Timber is making impressive strides in his recovery, starting a game for the U21s on the weekend, he's simply not going to be ready to start in a must-win first team game this week. That said, there is every chance he could be the starting left-back next season.
So, with that in mind, who is Arteta likely to pick out of Oleksandr Zinchenko and Jakub Kiwior? Well, the generally accepted line of thinking is that the former is the far more offensively gifted full-back, while the latter can offer the Gunners more solidity at the back.
However, with how poorly the Poland international dealt with Bayern Munich in the Champions League and how shaky he looked against Wolverhampton Wanderers at times – receiving a 5/10 from the Standard's Simon Collings for his display – is this entirely accurate?
Well, when looking at their underlying numbers from this season, there is only one winner, and according to FBref, it's the Ukrainian.
The former Manchester City ace produces far more progressive passes and carries, maintains a higher passing accuracy while making more passes, produces more shot and goal-creating actions, makes and wins more tackles, makes more interceptions, recovers the ball more often and miscontrols the ball less frequently, all per 90.
Progressive Passes
11.5
5.31
Progressive Carries
2.21
0.41
Passing Accuracy
88.0%
83.3%
Attempted Passes
82.1
56.2
Shot-Creating Actions
3.00
1.29
Goal-Creating Actions
0.28
0.27
Tackles
2.58
1.90
Tackles Won
1.50
0.96
Blocks
0.97
0.82
Clearances
1.29
2.18
Successful Take-Ons
0.32
0.34
Ball Recoveries
5.62
3.06
Aerial Duels Won
1.29
1.36
In his defence, Kiwior wins more aerial duels, makes more clearances, and is marginally more successful in his take-ons, but overall, it's hard to see an area, be that defensive or offensive, in which he comes out ahead.
Ultimately, with Tomiyasu's less-than-stellar performance on Sunday and the likelihood that Arsenal are going to have much more of the ball on Saturday, it would make sense to start Zinchenko in his place, and if the former midfielder performs well, the Japanese star could see his place in the starting XI slip through his fingers.
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