‘Extraordinary’ Arsenal defender has been statistically better than Virgil van Dijk this month

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Arsenal defender Jakub Kiwior has statistically been better than Liverpool skipper Virgil van Dijk in the Premier League this month.

Jakub Kiwior has enjoyed a run in the Arsenal side in recent weeks following Oleksandr Zinchenko’s injury.

The 24-year-old replaced Zinchenko at halftime in the 3-1 win over Liverpool earlier this month and hasn’t looked back since.

While left-back isn’t his natural position, he’s performed well in both Zinchenko and Takehiro Tomiyasu’s absence.

And according to the statistics alone, he’s actually outperformed Virgil van Dijk in February.

Kiwior has outperformed Van Dijk this month

Statistics site WhoScored have released their Premier League Team of the Month for February.

The side features four Arsenal players – Martin Odegaard, Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka and Kiwior. 

Saka boasts the highest average rating in February with 8.38, making him the best player in the league over the past few weeks. 

But in what may come as a surprise to some, Kiwior is the only Arsenal defender to feature in the team with an average rating of 7.42.

Van Dijk also features in the side but his rating of 7.38 for February is slightly below Kiwior’s.

Many Arsenal fans would have been concerned after Zinchenko’s injury, particularly with Tomiyasu also sidelined. But Kiwior has stepped up to deliver some impressive displays in recent weeks and looks set to continue at left-back. 

Indeed, it would be a surprise to see either Zinchenko or Tomiyasu come straight back into the side upon their returns to action.

Kiwior has been hailed as an ’extraordinary’ talent and despite his lack of starts since joining last January, he’s starting to show exactly why Arsenal snapped him up from Spezia Calcio.

It will be intriguing to see if Kiwior can nail down his place as Mikel Arteta’s starting left-back, particularly with some huge games to come in the title race.