Arsenal Vs Sheffield United: Mikel Arteta helps Bukayo Saka

With Sead Kolasinac out injured, Bukayo Saka is set to start for Arsenal against Sheffield United. Here is how head coach Mikel Arteta helps the out-of-position youngster.

For Bukayo Saka, left-back is not a natural home. He has spent his entire young career as a winger. He is an offensively minded player who will score goals, create chances, dribble at — and, more than not, round — defenders. He is an attacker by trade. Pushing him back into a full-back role is not normal.

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However, he has played at left wing-back before, like Reiss Nelson and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain did in their younger years on the right flank, and he is an intelligent enough footballer to adapt his positioning to the role he is being asked to play. And in recent weeks, when Arsenal have been desperate thanks to injuries to their two left-back options, Saka has stepped in admirably.

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This is especially true under Mikel Arteta. The left-back role under the former Manchester City is not an orthodox full-back one. While there are the same defensive responsibilities, usually matched up against an opposing wide player, in possession, Arteta asks his left-back to push very high up the pitch and position themselves like a left-winger. Meanwhile, the right-back moves centrally and sits in front of the centre-backs. Overall, this forms a 2-3-5 shape: two centre-backs, the two holding midfielders with the right-back, and a front five, from left to right, consisting of the left-back, left-winger, centre-forward, attacking midfielder and right-winger.

As you can tell, this shape asks the left-back to essentially perform the duties of a left-winger: spread the pitch as wide as possible to create pockets of space centrally, run beyond the opposition defence to receive through passes in behind, create chances from crosses into the box, and to dribble at the opposing full-back, who is often isolated by the presence of the left-winger drifting centrally.

Suddenly, you can see why Saka would not be as uncomfortable at left-back under Arteta as he might be in a more orthodox system. Yes, those same defensive vulnerabilities will be exploited by the opposition, and he must be careful not to get caught too high up the pitch to open up space behind him, but this is a very offensively minded role, which suits Saka down to the ground.

Saka may not be a natural left-back by trade, but he has the skill set to perform the role as Arteta requires. And for this current Arsenal team, that is all that matters. Which is good to know because Arsenal are going to need Saka on Saturday. With Kieran Tierney crocked until March with a dislocated shoulder, it was confirmed that this week that Sead Kolasinac the match agains Sheffield United with a left thigh strain.

With no other fit left-back in the squad, the starting responsibility again falls on Saka’s shoulders. His performance against Bournemouth in the same role proves that he is capable, and in this newly built role that Arteta has formed, he should be much more comfortable at left-back than it may initially seem.

Saka is no left-back. Make no mistake. But Arteta’s left-back role is very different to your normal expectations of the position, and that will help the blossoming teenager no end. It would be nice to have Kolasianc fit and firing, no doubt, but Saka is a more than capable fill-in.