Arsenal: Ainsley Maitland-Niles putting the ‘back’ in wingback

Arsenal’s defense kept a clean sheet against Manchester United, but that doesn’t mean it was easy. Ainsley Maitland-Niles made it look easy, though.

Not going to lie, Arsenal‘s back three gave me some jitters going into the match against Manchester United. It’s pretty well established that Sokratis doesn’t defend well from a wide centerback role, Nacho Monreal isn’t a centerback at all, and when placed at wingback, Sead Kolasinac and Ainsley Maitland-Niles do much more attacking than defending.

That was the idea behind this starting XI, right? Attack, attack, attack and, if there is time afterwards, do some defending too.

Well, as the 2-0 scoreline will attest to, there was plenty of defending to go around. Sokratis actually did defend well from a wide position, Monreal held his own and, most surprisingly of all, Maitland-Niles was so clutch on the defense that I’d even go so far as to say that he is putting the ‘back’ back in wingback.

His side of the pitch was consistently under attack, as Marcus Rashford was over there, Luke Shaw too, and Anthony Martial came on late in the match. All three were pretty irrelevant throughout the course of the 90 minutes, and Maitland-Niles is a huge reason why.

More from Pain in the Arsenal

• 3 standout players from 1-0 victory over Everton
• 3 positives & negatives from Goodison Park victory
• Arsenal vs PSV preview: Prediction, team news & lineups
• 3 talking points from Arsenal’s victory at Goodison Park
• Mikel Arteta provides Gabriel Martinelli injury update after Everton win

On so many instances, you could see him defending in the box, holding the line like a defender would, and man marking to perfection. He was responsible for numerous last-ditch tackles to save the day and wasn’t afraid to get aggressive and head off an attack before it could even really get started, cutting out passing lanes and snuffing out fast breaks.

There has always been a “coolness” to Maitland-Niles, both in the way he handles the ball, and the way he defends, and that coolness was on display here. He couldn’t be troubled, and I mean that in a good way.

The match may have started a bit rough for him – it’s one hell of a match to get your first Premier League start in a month in – but by the time it wrapped up, he led the team in ball-winning plays, with more than even Aaron Ramsey.

And, unlike Sead Kolasinac, it was more for Maitland-Niles defending that he was memorable in this one, showing that he read the match and understood what the club needed, and adjusted accordingly.

Just another reminder that you’d be a fool to forget about this young man. 21-years-old and so much to look forward to.