I saw £50m Arsenal star prove he can play an entirely new role for Mikel Arteta vs West Ham

On what was a brilliant afternoon for Arsenal against West Ham United, Mikel Arteta will have enjoyed several strong performances.

The manager singled out Bukayo Saka for praise after the game, lauding his attitude to keep pressing on.

But as well as individual performances, Arteta will have been very pleased with how some of his tactical intricacies planned out.

Jakub Kiwior has been deputising for Oleksandr Zinchenko at left-back following his injury, performing well today.

But whilst Zinchenko is one of the best inverted full-backs in the world, Kiwior isn’t.

The Poland international has struggled when coming inside on occasion, which led to a tactical tweak today.

Kiwior played almost as a third centre-back, overlapping on the outside of Gabriel Martinelli if he went forward.

And if Ben White wasn’t already offering enough to Arteta at Arsenal, his performance as an inverted right-back today was quite remarkable.

It still feels today as if the £50m fee Arsenal paid to sign White is sometimes questioned, but today he proved rich value.

Ben White was brilliant for Mikel Arteta as Arsenal’s inverted full-back at West Ham

Rather than marauding down the right, going beyond Saka as if he often does, White instead often stepped into midfield today.

The Englishman dictated play in the middle, performing the role seamlessly.

And if the absence of Jurrien Timber, Zinchenko and Takehiro Tomiyasu was supposed to be an issue today, nobody told Ben White.

Of course, this does also demonstrate what a shame it is that White is unlikely to be on England’s plane to the Euros this summer.

For whatever reason, Gareth Southgate doesn’t see White as an option, which is to England’s detriment.

White probably is now the most underrated player in Arsenal’s squad, a title he probably won’t mind.

But Arteta will have been delighted that his Arsenal plan worked so well against West Ham today.

With the back four chosen, Arsenal retained their control of the ball but also looked steely out of possession.