Arsenal: Ainsley Maitland-Niles cohosting the Sead Kolasinac show

Arsenal have been able to rely on Sead Kolasinac for the majority of the year, but Ainsley Maitland-Niles is begging to be considered in the same sentence.

Moving on to the next round against Rennes wasn’t pretty, but yet again Arsenal showed that the doomers and gloomers were incredibly overblown. They moved onto the next round and, in the process, they allowed Unai Emery to stick to the same exact formation for the first time in… ever?

There were a lot of players who showed up for this (and some that didn’t), but yet again we have to highlight Ainsley Maitland-Niles. He was thrown into the fray against Manchester United as the right wingback and he excelled after about 20 minutes or so of struggles. His pace and composure lent itself masterfully, not just to the attack, but to the defense as well, which was grateful for his presence.

The same was true against Rennes. Lined up opposite Sead Kolasinac yet again, Maitland-Niles may not have stole the show from Kolasinac, but that’s just because it would indicate that Kolasinac did not, in his own right, play well. Which he did.

The more accurate terminology would be to say that Maitland-Niles merely joined the Kolasinac show as a co-host for the second consecutive match.

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While watching him play is the best way to be a judge of how good he was, the numbers do him justice. He led the team in ball winning plays, again adding to the headline from United – that as a wingback, he is a valuable defender.

Kolasinac does not have the same bragging rights, though he did have one crucial and clinical tackle, so it’s not like he’s foreign to it. Still, Kolasinac’s potency going forward is what makes him special and, that being the case, seeing Maitland-Niles mirror that on the defensive end makes this look like the complete package.

There has been talk about building around the wingbacks throughout the course of the year, and seeing these two play together gives more credence to that chatter than ever. Two straight matches they have been dynamic, deadly and decisive and they accounted for two of the three goals.

Perhaps their biggest service, though, is freeing up space for Mesut Ozil to do his thing. Width is Ozil’s best friend. If you can give it to him, he thrives. There are just too many angles for the team to beat you when the wingbacks are firing like they have been.