Mikel Arteta had praise for Noni Madueke following Arsenal’s win over Leeds United on Saturday, with the winger moving back to the left-hand side.
With Christos Tzolis picking up an injury over the international break, Mikel Arteta was forced into making a change on his team’s left-hand side on Saturday.
The expectation was that Eberechi Eze would come in, but Arteta instead picked Noni Madueke to play on the left.
Madueke had played on the left for Arsenal before, but very infrequently. Of his first 48 appearances for the Gunners, he was on the right 43 times. Only one of his previous left-wing appearances had come in 2026.
But Saturday’s appearance seemed to go pretty well. Madueke created four chances, and it was his cross to the far post that ultimately led to Arsenal’s equalising goal. Arteta was certainly impressed with the display.
“I’m really happy with him because he deserves the chance that he got, and he grabbed it with both hands,” Arteta said. “When I haven’t liked too much what he was doing and it was impacting the game, I made certain decisions, and he has accepted them.
“What he’s done is raised the level and in training he’s been the best player in the last 10 days. He gave me no option not to select him and not to play him today, and you could see that every time he was in and around the box, he looked a threat.”
Madueke will now be fighting to keep his spot in the team in Tzolis’ continuing absence, with Arsenal having some big games coming up. Most notably, the team face Bayern Munich away on October 21st.
Coincidentally, Bayern were one of the five opponents Madueke played on the left against last season, scoring his first Arsenal goal. The task later this month is to grab another winner against the German side.
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