Arsenal: Moving forward is moving forward for Ainsley Maitland-Niles

Arsenal are now making it a regular thing, playing Ainsley Maitland-Niles further up in the formation. Which is a step in the right direction.

Arsenal‘s win over Blackpool may not have been the flash-bang performance that many of us were hoping for, but there was a lot of excitement around this starting XI, and it came from the attack being so young, so fast, and so capable of striking quickly.

Led by Eddie Nketiah, with Joe Willock in behind, the attack was flanked on either side by the quick bursts of Alex Iwobi and Ainsley Maitland-Niles. All four of these guys have fantastic pace at their disposal, and they used it frequently and to great effect.

The praise for Willock has been all over the place, but Maitland-Niles deserves to be a part of the applause as well. Don’t forget that, had Eddie Nketiah not squandered two chances, Maitland-Niles would have had two fantastic assists, created and delivered by him.

This all came from having the flexibility to play further up the formation. Maitland-Niles has been playing more and more lately. In the Premier League, he is always used at wingback. He’s an ample wingback. He plays the role well, he gets forward, he tracks back. He uses his athleticism well.

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But when you push him forward, you don’t require him to track back as much, you let him focus solely on the attacking, drifting centrally, prepping and engaging the overlap, creating play or making the runs to facilitate a progression of the play.

I think this match against Blackpool was the best we have seen Maitland-Niles this year, and I don’t think it has anything to do with the level of the opponent. I think it has to do with his ability to get forward with more frequency than anything else. It allows him to flex his attacking ability, which we really haven’t been able to see over the past couple years when he’s been stuck as a fullback/wingback.

He was playing as a winger, which has become the newest substitute for him playing as a central midfielder and, sure enough, it worked. He started as a winger when he first hit the first team, and it was so exciting how talented he was, but now that he has been moved around so much, we’re seeing more diverse abilities.

It makes things more interesting going forward. There is a much bigger opportunity at winger, and he’s primed to take it if Unai Emery will trust him. At this point, though, why wouldn’t he?