'Doesn't look fully fit': Pundit says £35m Arsenal player really doesn't look right at the moment
Today at 05:15 AM
Arsenal head into this weekend's Premier League clash with Newcastle with a number of defensive injury issues.
Gabriel Magalhaes and Jurrien Timber are both set to be available for selection for Arsenal this weekend, but they did come off with injury against Liverpool last week.
Meanwhile, Ben White is a doubt while Riccardo Calafiori is also out of action.
To add more misery to this situation, there's now been a suggestion that Oleksandr Zinchenko isn't fully fit.
Indeed, speaking on the Handbrake Off Podcast, Adrian Clarke has been reviewing Zinchenko's performance against Preston in midweek, and he noted that he didn't think the Ukrainian looked fully fit in this game.
Oleksandr Zinchenko doesn't look fully fit
Clarke shared his verdict on Zinchenko and his performance in this match.
The pundit says the full-back was one of Arsenal's worst performers against Preston, claiming that he didn't look fully fit.
"Yeah, I mean, he’s very decent reserve. He just still doesn’t look fully fit to me. I said everyone was an eight and I stand by that, but probably Zini was at the lower end.
"You know, if there was a few 8.6s and 8.7s, he was maybe just a flat eight or a 7.9. You know, he was probably one of the weaker performances. He didn’t do anything wrong.
"We didn’t sort of dominate the game maybe in the way that he used to or that he can. He looked really tired when he came off as well. So I do think that he’s either carrying something still or he’s really building up that fitness.
"He did fine, but he doesn’t look quite ready for the rigours of a big Premier League game. He just doesn’t like Newcastle away. He doesn’t look ready for that in my opinion, compared to some of the others."
Zinchenko's stats this season
It's not at all surprising to hear that Zinchenko isn't looking fully fit. After all, he's barely played this season.
Indeed, the full-back has hardly featured for Arsenal at all this term.
| Oleksandr Zinchenko for Arsenal this season | |
| Appearances | 3 |
| Starts | 3 |
| Minutes | 141 |
| Full matches completed | 0 |
Zinchenko has only played 141 minutes across all competitions this term, and we're in November now.
That will inevitably lead to a lack of match fitness.
There's a big difference between being fit and being match fit and ready to play top-level football, and if Zinchenko is barely playing, he won't be able to build up that level of sharpness.
Factor in that Zinchenko did have an injury earlier this season, and it's easy to understand why he's not playing his best football right now.
Fingers crossed Zinchenko can get back to his best soon, because, when he's on form, the full-back has the ability to be one of Arsenal's best players.
Martin Odegaard has compared Zinchenko to Lionel Messi, and that’s a testament to how good he can be when he’s fit.
