Arsenal’s Ainsley Maitland-Niles starred in a midfield role against Ostersunds FK.
Arsenal supporters have taken to social media site Twitter in order to lavish praise on youngster Ainsley Maitland-Niles following his midfield display in the convincing win over Osterunds FK.
The Gunners took complete control of their Europa league tie with the Swedish outfit as strikes from Nacho Monreal, Mesut Ozil and an own goal from Sotirios Papagiannopoulos gave them a comfortable 3-0 victory.
Boss Arsene Wenger opted to name a competitive but experimental first-team XI, with the notable inclusion of the talented Maitland-Niles in his preferred central midfield position.
The 20-year-old featured in a host of different roles for the youth team, starting out as a striker before ending up in midfield – either on the wing or in the middle – and at times in an unfamiliar left-back role.
Since being promoted to the senior team, Maitland-Niles has predominantly featured as a left-back – making five starts in the Premier League and appearing four times as a substitute.
But against Osterunds, Wenger opted to put the youngster in at his preferred central midfield position and the talented academy product didn’t disappoint as he made a number of key contributions.
He completed 93.6% of his intended 94 passes, while from a defensive perspective he chipped in with three tackles and two interceptions – a combined total only bettered by Shkodran Mustafi and Calum Chambers.
Arsenal normally line-up with Granit Xhaka or Mohamed Elneny in the holding positions, but what Maitland-Niles offers is more pace out of possession and an ability to cover more ground.
Supporters of the North London club were impressed with his performance, and taking to Twitter in the aftermath of the game, implored Arsene Wenger to try him out there on more occasions.
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