Arsenal: Alex Iwobi keeps exposing Henrikh Mkhitaryan

From off the bench, Alex Iwobi provided the key moment in Arsenal’s 1-1 draw with Liverpool on Saturday evening. He continues to expose his wide counterpart, Henrikh Mkhitaryan.

Sometimes, I feel like a broken record. Repeating the same old lines. Making the same old arguments. But sometimes, that broken record is vindicated. At other times, it is just my natural bias coming in to play, which I am sure everyone can relate with. In the case of Alex Iwobi, I am most certainly a broken record. But I feel it is a justified one.

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The Arsenal winger, who was named as a possible sale candidate in the summer, has looked like a completely different player this season. Confident, purposeful, creative, direct and productive, he has been one of the primary attacking threats in Unai Emery’s team.

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And, in Saturday’s 1-1 draw against Liverpool, after being introduced from off the bench in the 68th minute, it was again Iwobi that provided the key moment of the match: Actually playing at left back, Iwobi, enjoying that added time and space from a deeper position, found Alexandre Lacazette with a brilliant, thread through pass that the Frenchman duly finished after turning around Allison and Joe Gomez.

More than just that individual moment, though, Iwobi provided a much-needed impetus and directness to the Arsenal attack that was struggling to break down a stubborn Liverpool resistance, despite controlling the midfield areas with relative ease. He skipped past Trent Alexander-Arnold on several occasions, he drove into the penalty area with speed and purpose, and completed 100% of his attempted dribbles. This was Iwobi at his best, as he has been for much of the season.

Contrast that to the man he replaced. Henrikh Mkhitaryan has toiled through much of this season, struggling to have a real impact on matches from the wide-right position that he has predominantly been played in. And against Liverpool, the Armenian was again poor. He attempted three dribbles, failing all of them, he made just 39 passes, only 15 more than Iwobi, who was on the pitch for less than half of what Mkhitaryan was, and completed just 77% of his passes, the second-worst figure of the 11 starters.

This match is a microcosm for the season. In 511 minutes of Premier League action, Mkhitaryan has scored one goal and assisted another. Iwobi, in 438 minutes of league action, has one goal and two assists. Iwobi also has two assists in the Europa League in just 145 minutes. Not only is Iwobi playing better than Mkhitaryan, but he has now addressed the major shortcoming of his game: production.

Iwobi is now impacting matches with key moments, like his excellent assist to Lacazette at the weekend. He still exhibits the same quick feet, the same calmness and composure on the ball, the same rare combination of burst, speed and power, the same creativity and spatial intelligence. But he has now added goals and assists to his game, something that Mkhitaryan has traditionally excelled at, even when he is not playing well.

Iwobi keeps exposing Mkhitaryan. He has done it time and time again this season. It might be time for Emery to make the switch.