8 duels won, 5 tackles, 3 recoveries: 24yo Arsenal "warrior" is undroppable under Arteta after derby win, not Eze
Arsenal secured an impressive 4-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League yesterday.
The Gunners came into the game after frustrating league draws against Brentford and Wolverhampton Wanderers. They provided the perfect response with a convincing victory at Spurs.
Eberechi Eze and Viktor Gyokeres grabbed the headlines with two goals apiece. The latter was handed the man of the match, having scored his ninth and tenth goals of the top-flight campaign.
Meanwhile, Arsenal were also defensively resolute, barring one lapse from midfielder Declan Rice.
In our view, Piero Hincapie was as good as Eze and Gyokeres on the day. The Ecuadorian started his Arsenal career as a centre-back and has moved into a regular left-back role this year.
The injury to Riccardo Calafiori paved the way for his opportunity and he has certainly taken it with both hands. The 24-year-old scored a crucial goal during the 2-2 draw at Wolves in midweek.
He should have had a goal contribution yesterday too. The Bayer Leverkusen loanee delivered a peach of a long ball towards Bukayo Saka, who missed a one-on-one chance to beat the goalkeeper.
Aside from that big chance, Hincapie provided three more key passes. Defensively, he was solid with eight duels won, five successful tackles, three clearances, three recoveries and one interception.
Hincapie also completed 89 percent of his passes with 56 touches in the north London derby.
Manager Mikel Arteta has described him as a ‘warrior‘ this season, and the Ecuadorian rose to the occasion and delivered another standout performance from the left side of the backline.
Hincapie has been a regular starter in the left-back position since the turn of the year and after his latest showing, he has definitely become undroppable under Arteta, at least for the league games.
The same can’t be necessarily said for Eze. The Englishman was phenomenal against Spurs for the second match running. He has netted five times in the north London derbies this campaign.
Despite this, he faces fierce competition from captain Martin Odegaard, who is a regular starter for the Gunners when fully fit. The Norwegian could be reinstated in the XI in the near future.
Stats from Transfermarkt.com & Sofascore.com
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