3 positive and 2 negatives from a big Arsenal win at Preston

Positive #2: Fringe players step up

Cup competitions are often a great chance for fringe players to show their worth and many of them did just that on Wednesday.

Oleksandr Zinchenko is certainly one of them. The Ukraine star made just his third appearance of the campaign here and he excelled in the inverted role; dropping between the lines to progress the ball through central areas.

His efforts were very encouraging given recent injuries – both his own and our need for numbers amid other backline knocks (particularly to Riccardo Calafiori) – and the questions about his own competence as a LB, even if sterner tests lie ahead.

Jakub Kiwior also impressed at LCB, although he did not have too much defensive work to do. Still, he looked assured all night and made a huge difference up front, teeing up Gabriel Jesus for the opener and delivering a brilliant cross for Havertz to head home for 3-0.

Others like Jesus and Raheem Sterling caught the eye too, but the performances of Zinchenko and Kiwior are more noteworthy given their hitherto lack of involvement and our slim defensive pickings, which means they will be called upon over the coming months.

Negative #2: Why not play Nwaneri more?

One other gripe might pertain to Nwaneri and his limited role in the team of late, something only rendered more baffling by his MOTM display at Preston.

His talent is well known to the Arsenal masses but that merely compounds the frustration over his meagre playing time of late, especially with our usual creator-in-chief, Martin Odegaard, still sidelined due to an ankle injury.

The captain left behind a big void that Nwaneri seems primed to fill, yet Wednesday marked just his second start of the campaign (his other being for the Bolton tie) and he has played just 23 minutes in the Premier League, game time which is spread across four substitute appearances.

Of course, Arsenal have a duty of care to him and he is still very young. But he seems ready to play and surely recent matches against Bournemouth, Leicester and Shakhtar Donetsk were good times for doing that – opportunities that Arteta did not take.

Hopefully his role will change soon.

Continued on the next slide...