Arsenal vs Leicester City: Let Sead Kolasinac smash again

For awhile there, Sead Kolasinac looked like the only Arsenal player who could be counted on to create chances. He needs to smash again!

This has not been a year of consistency for Arsenal. Far from it. Even when they had avoided defeat for 22 matches in a row, they still struggled to keep their head above water and for as many losses as there weren’t, there were also conspicuously few dominant wins.

As the calendar year turned over and the streak was long behind us, creating chances was starting to become a problem. But there was one guy who continued to defy that and lead the team in chances created. That guy was the Bosnian hulk, Sead Kolasinac.

He was the only guy averaging over two chances created per match, which is a low threshold in and of itself, but seeing as how he lead the team, he had to be respected for what he was doing, since no one else was doing it.

Since that time, Kolasinac has fallen well off the pace, drooping to third in the team in chances created at just 1.4 a match. And yes, it is crazy that 1.4 chances created is third on the team.

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No one is currently creating over 1.8 chances per match and only five players are averaging over 1.0 per match.

It’s a dismal situation, but part of the reason it feels more dismal is because Kolasinac has been in one hell of a rut lately, mostly in his own inability to create chances. For the past three starts, he has only created two chances. He has been consistently overshadowed by Ainsley Maitland-Niles and my only question is when Kolasinac is going to be back to his usual hulk-smash self.

I miss Kolasinac’s low, sizzling crosses into the box. I even miss how they seemed to catch the strikers off guard, as they were never there to connect with those crosses. But still, there seems to be an element to the attack lacking without Kolasinac on top of his game.

Righting that ship could be key in securing a needed three points over Leicester City, as it stands to reason that Emery should be desperate to get back to the back three and thus unleash his wingbacks again.

It’s just a matter of time. Kolasinac is too good and determined to stay buried for long. It would just be nice for it to happen sooner rather than later.