Arsenal: 4 penalty taker options after Aubameyang miss – ranked

3. Ainsley Maitland-Niles

Let’s start by pulling up the stats on Ainsley Maitland-Niles:

Penalties scored: 0
Penalties missed: 0

Oh. That doesn’t seem right. How can anyone be above one of the greatest strikers Europe has seen over the past eight years if he hasn’t even taken a professional penalty?

Well, he has, just not outside of pre-season or penalty shootouts. And in those five he’s taken as an Arsenal player, he’s yet to miss.

His style is pure vibes. Ignore everything you get taught as a youngster in training or from watching the best there has been to play the game; what Maitland-Niles does is him in a nutshell. One that is very hard to crack.

As he nonchalantly struts up towards the ball with his shoulders languid, not until the final seconds does he commit to an area of the net as he waits for the goalkeeper to make his move. This has resulted in an array of finishes in the five he’s taken, including bottom corners, top corners and Panenka’s. And, after he’s scored, he continues the same stroll-like pace all the way back to the halfway line. It’s confidence, and borderline arrogance, by the shedload.

The sheer calmness he exudes is replicated in his performances on the pitch, where he comes across so laid back anyone would think he was playing the game on a console not in real life.

Do we trust him to do so in the Premier League? There is little reason to doubt him, as he sure as anything doesn’t doubt himself.

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