Arsenal's Bukayo Saka experiment has to be over

Getting back to basics kept Arsenal's Premier League title challenge on track, and the most important return to status quo for the 4-1 north London derby win over Tottenham Hotspur was manager Mikel Arteta ending the experiment to make Bukayo Saka a No. 10.

Arteta had more than flirted with the position switch for Arsenal's No. 7 during the previous two matches. Although Saka got on the scoresheet during the otherwise dismal 2-2 draw with Wolves, he was mostly a shell of himself in central areas.

A return to the right wing in the other half of north London meant a return to what Saka does best. He didn't score at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, but Saka did enough to show Arteta not to try and fix what isn't broken.

Especially when the alternative isn't enough to see the Gunners over the line in pursuit of a first league title in 22 years.

Saka alternative not good enough for Arsenal's title challenge

Arteta usually takes comfort in all things cautious and defensive, so he deserves some credit for making a progressive change with Saka, albeit one prompted more by necessity than invention.

The problem is moving Saka off the flank was short-sighted. Things looked good on paper because Arteta had found a way to include both Saka and Noni Madueke in the same starting XI, but Madueke is no Saka.

It's not a slight on Madueke, and the former Chelsea man has delivered more than most Arsenal fans expected. Madueke's just not the same type of wide player as Saka.

Think traditional winger when you think about Madueke. A quick-footed trickster keen to twist, turn and beat defenders on the outside before delivering the ball into the box.

Saka can do those things, and he's shown a greater willingness to take on defenders down the line this season. Yet, he's always been more of an Arjen Robben-type. A winger who will cut inside to shoot or make angled runs between two defenders to meet a final pass.

Those runs made Saka more of a threat against Spurs. They showed Arteta the right plan for Saka. Not to take his best player out of the areas where he does his best work, but to make Saka a more dangerous winger.

Direct movement can improve Arsenal's best player

Runs from out to in had been in short supply for Saka this season, but he righted this wrong against Spurs and provided Arsenal with an outlet for a more direct approach going forward. The change was obvious during the opening stages of the match, when goalkeeper David Raya launched a well-placed long ball that had Saka in hot pursuit after he'd darted inside Micky van de Ven.

Defenders hate this kind of movement because they are forced to twist and turn while running backwards at pace. No surprise Saka had too much of the latter quality because he ran in a straight line after turning into a central space.

This became one of the patterns of arguably Arsenal's best attacking display of the league campaign. The next out-to-in run came when Piero Hincapié lifted an angled pass over the top and Saka raced onto the ball, only to be denied by Guglielmo Vicario.

He didn't score, but Saka's run was outstanding. It began with some idling between Pape Matar Sarr and Van de Ven. Once Hincapié looked up, Saka took off through the gap between both defenders.

Saka essentially became a centre-forward in this moment, making the kind of run Freddie Ljungberg once made famous during the club's glory years under Arsene Wenger. Those Ljungberg-esque runs from out wide make Arsenal more fluid and unpredictable in attack.

They also turn Saka into an inviting target for the better No. 10s in the team.

Arsenal have better No. 10 choices

Eberechi Eze didn't need to help himself to another two goals against Spurs to underscore he's a better No. 10 than Saka. While the scoring output is more than welcome, any advanced creator needs runners in behind to aim for in the final third, and Saka was one such tireless runner in key moments.

Two of those moments occurred in quick succession during the second half. First, when Saka won the ball high up the pitch and exchanged a quick one-two with Eze, firing a pass to the latter then running in behind toward the center of the box for the return ball. A smart stop from Vicario denied Saka his goal, but the same combination soon yielded a dividend.

Eze slid a side-foot pass into Saka, the way Dennis Bergkamp did so often for Ljungberg. Saka's shot was saved on what was definitely not his day in front of goal, but Eze took care of the rebound to put Arsenal out of sight.

Saka was again running centrally, on the inside of Van de Ven. This is the run Saka must make more often to build a rapport with Eze and re-establish chemistry with the returning Martin Odegaard.

Both are better No. 10s than Saka, whose work from the right still defines this Arsenal team going forward. Let him focus on adding some nuance to his core game, not trying to reinvent himself behind the striker.