3 Arsenal players who should be given an opportunity in pre-season

2. Jakub Kiwior

After Oleksandr Zinchenko’s injury which saw him miss the latter stages of the season, Arsenal’s January signing, Jakob Kiwior, was the Ukrainian’s replacement.

During his first games in red and white, Kiwior scored a goal but also surprised fans with his impressive defensive performances and his adaptability in such a short time.

However, with his lack of game time comes the uncertainty of his true abilities. There is no way of knowing if the new signing had a purple patch or if he can maintain the quality of his defending. He impressed in Serie A with Spezia but the argument still stands on whether he can do it in the best league in the world with the highest of demands.

After a few pre-season games, where he should have proven his true quality, Arteta will then know the possibility of resting the likes of Gabriel and Zinchenko to avoid injury in games against weaker opposition or weaker competitions.

However, if he is poor in his pre-season campaign, it must be taken with a pinch of salt, as all friendly games should, but it should also be an alert for Arsenal to possibly look into the market for another backup defender option.

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