Mikel Arteta amazed by Oleksandr Zinchenko after Arsenal beat Everton

By Jordan Harris

Mikel Arteta has suggested that the arrival of Oleksandr Zinchenko has allowed Arsenal to become much more unpredictable following his display in the Gunners’ emphatic win over Everton on Wednesday – in comments reported by BBC Sport.

Arsenal have extended their lead at the top of the Premier League table to five points. They thrashed Everton 4-0 at the Emirates, with Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard each scoring and Gabriel Martinelli bagging a brace.

One of the most impressive performances on show came from Zinchenko. The Ukrainian set up the opening goal for Saka five minutes before the break. And he seemed to have Everton beaten all ends up on several occasions.

Arteta amazed by Zinchenko

It has been apparent for some time that Zinchenko has been a game-changing signing for Arsenal. But this has to have been one of his best performances yet for the club.

Certainly, Arteta believes that adding the 26-year-old to the ranks has made such a huge difference to the Gunners’ fortunes.

“When you look at the players every day you can see how much they want it,” he said, as reported by BBC Sport.

“They are so willing to learn. They can never have enough information. When you have that and the talent they have, good things will happen.

“Zinchenko, his mentality and quality allow us to be more unpredictable.”

Of course, some of the build-up to the Arsenal game focused on speculation surrounding the future of Kieran Tierney at the Emirates.

Tierney has been an incredibly popular player during his time at Arsenal. However, The Times suggests that the Gunners could let him go to raise funds for future targets.

That would obviously be a disappointment. But when Zinchenko plays like he does on Wednesday, you can understand the stance a lot more.

He just ticks more boxes for what Arteta wants from his full-backs. And it really has been a masterstroke to bring him in in the summer. Certainly, £32 million is looking like an absolute steal right now.

And Manchester City must be wondering why they decided to let him go.