Arsenal are still searching for a left-wing solution after Christos Tzolis suffered a hamstring injury, with two matches producing two different auditionees and no obvious answer yet.
Noni Madueke started against Leeds and Eberechi Eze against Lille, both showing bright moments and goal involvements without making themselves undroppable. Mikel Arteta has plenty to ponder, including a third potential option.
Madueke's Directness and Frustrating End Product
Madueke is Arsenal's most direct runner with the ball and the best in the squad at beating a defender. His pace is a real attribute in an attack lacking that quality, and against Leeds he showed he can be a threat on the left wing.
As a left-footer, his instinct is to go on the outside, leading to more crosses into the box. However, his end product is incredibly frustrating, and the sample size is now big enough to suspect that will not change.
In the win over Lille on Tuesday night, Madueke kept getting into good positions but failing to execute. He put in 15 crosses in his hour on the pitch, with only one accurate. Bukayo Saka, by contrast, came on and found the target with both of his two crosses. Madueke needs a high volume of crosses and chances to make a decisive contribution, and against top sides with more limited opportunities, he is not as ruthless as Arteta would like.
Eze's Inside Drifting and Goal Threat
Eze offers a very different option as a left winger. He is not going to consistently get past his man on the outside and deliver crosses like Madueke, nor does he have the pace to make runs in behind and offer an out-ball against high-pressing opposition.
Instead, Eze drifts more inside than any of Arsenal's other left-wing options, being most comfortable in central positions. Madueke plays more as a traditional winger creating for others, but Eze offers a much greater goal threat.
Against Lille, Eze had 12 touches in the opposition's box, with no other Arsenal player having more than seven. He also led the way for shots and scored his first goal of the season from close to the penalty spot after making the run inside and being picked out by Saka.
"A lot of the stuff I do will happen from out wide and drifting inside, that's just the way I play," Eze said on Tuesday. He may not be the best fit to partner Riccardo Calafiori on the left, as Eze would benefit more from an overlapping full-back rather than one roaming into the same central areas.
Saka as the Wildcard Option
Taking the team's best attacker away from his best position does not make much sense at first glance. Saka has been in good scoring form this season with six goals for club and country, and his combinations with Martin Odegaard and Ben White on the right wing have often driven Arsenal's best attacking performances over the past four seasons.
However, Saka has tweaked his game in the first couple of months of this campaign. There is far more focus on getting into the six-yard box, with the majority of his goals this season being one-touch finishes from close range. He is no longer staying out wide and being doubled up on, and that desire to sniff out goals in a central position could still work when starting from the left.
It may not be a solution for the current moment or even this season, but Saka switching wings could become more of a discussion if Max Dowman's development continues on the same trajectory. Arteta has not used Dowman on the left wing; when he came on against Lille, it was Saka who swapped flanks so Dowman could be used on the right.
For now, there is no rush with Dowman, but it will not be long until he is banging down the door for more starts, and a change of position for Saka could be a way to accommodate both.
