Arsenal’s last-16 Europa League clash with Sporting CP is finely poised after the two sides played out an entertaining four-goal thriller in Lisbon on Thursday evening.
Both teams went into the break with a goal apiece after headed efforts from William Saliba and Goncalo Inacio, though soon after the restart, the home side gave the Gunners a scare, with Paulinho tapping in from close range.
It took an own goal from Hidemasa Morita to level things up after Granit Xhaka’s shot spun in off the Japanese midfielder but Mikel Arteta’s men struggled to assert any dominance in the match thereafter.
Six of the Spaniard’s typical starters featured from the off in Portugal, whilst there was a debut for January addition Jakub Kiwior, who was subbed off by the 71st minute in what will be a night to quickly forget.
However, he wasn’t the only disappointing player on the night as the more experienced Ben White almost cost Arteta and co dearly…
Who was Arsenal’s worst player vs Sporting CP?
As described by journalist Chris Wheatley, it ‘wasn’t his best game’ and that was largely due to his positioning, as noted by fellow reporter Charles Watts, who also wrote that he was ‘caught out position a few times’ throughout the 90 minutes.
This was also reflected by Sofascore’s poor 6.2 rating for his display, which was just as bad as the young Polish gem (6.1). White, despite managing 78 touches and a 94% passing accuracy, had barely any say in the match and if anything, he proved troublesome for Arteta, who was seen shouting at him during the latter stages of the game.
Indeed, the £50m man was dribbled past on two occasions and his only defensive contribution at right-back was a solitary block, so to not provide a clearance, interception or tackle is certainly cause for concern.
Also via Sofascore, the England international won just one of his five duels (20%) and failed to provide an accurate cross or dribble, making his attacking efforts just as meagre.
It wasn’t too long ago that White was being asked questions about, having put in a woeful performance against Everton, with the aforementioned Watts claiming that he is “having a bit of a sort of dip in confidence.”
Whilst many will target Kiwior for his poor debut, the outing from White should be of far greater concern as he very nearly cost Arteta and his side a chance of playing the second leg on a level playing field back at the Emirates Stadium next week.
AND in other news, Arteta could sign his very own Foden in Arsenal swoop for “exceptional” £22m wizard…
