Oleksandr Zinchenko, More Than Just An Inverted Fullback

Zinchenko chose to leave Manchester City in the 2022/2023 transfer window, to join Arsenal for an initial fee of £32m. That decision proved to be a good decision (at least until now), with Arsenal currently leading the 2022/2023 Premier League table with 5 points ahead of the reigning Premier League Champions. The Ukrainian international is loving life in North London, with Arteta playing him more often than fan favorite Kieran Tierney.

He and the ex-Manchester City striker (Gabriel Jesus) have contributed a lot to Arsenal’s success to be at the top of the league in the meantime. The 26-year-old left-back was injured and had to be sidelined for a long time. But now his presence is so crucial, with Arsenal already missing their Brazilian frontman who had an injury since the 2022 World Cup.

But how good and crucial is he?

Zinchenko’s Important Role In Arsenal’s Build-up

First, we will discuss Zinchenko’s role in Arsenal’s build-up. When building up, Zinchenko usually inverts to the middle by forming a double pivot with Partey. This is done by creating a central overload to create a dilemma for the marker (example here: Bruno Gumaires) because he is in a 2v1 situation.

Zinchenko’s functionality in the double pivot is also used to lure the opponent’s press so that it creates space that can be exposed by Arsenal’s forward (Nketiah / Martinelli).

If no player exposed that space, Zinchenko could expose the space himself, with the help of Odegaard and Partey.

When building up, he can move from wide and then invert to the middle to form a 3–2 / 2–3 in the first phase of the build-up so Arsenal can bypass the opponent’s press by circulating, and also open up the passing lane to Martinelli (who holds the width on the left).

Ben White who plays as RB, is positioned between CB and double pivot on the right side like this, making it easier for him to advance or drop depending on the situation.

This is because he has also often played as a CB before and has played as RCB in the back 3 formations when managed by Graham Potter at Brighton, he also has better defensive abilities than Zinchenko.

Whereas Zinchenko used to play as a midfielder and has a more natural ability to play in a double pivot.

This makes it easier for Arteta to place his players depending on their experience and skill set.

Many people might think that Zinchenko always inverts, but he can also hold the width depending on the situation of the match. Against Man United, Arsenal tried to build up with maximum width so that Zinchenko was positioned wide with Xhaka dropping. Arsenal lured Man United to press to the right side before switching play to Zinchenko who was free on the left. Man United was forced to cover many areas + the number of Man United pressers didn't match the number of Arsenal players who helped build up, so Arsenal could bypass the press easily.

Zinchenko-Xhaka Rotation

We have seen Zinchenko’s movement from holding the width and then invert in the previous example. This time, we can see where he inverts and then goes wide by rotating positions with Xhaka. This constant fluid position rotation made it harder for opponents to mark them.

There was a time when Zinchenko went wide and Xhaka didn’t drop. This opened up more space for Partey to circulate, due to Zinchenko and Xhaka’s pinned their markers.

Press Resistance

Usually, a player whose strongest foot is his left tends to be one-footed, but it’s different with Zinchenko. He is comfortable with both feet, which made him have good press resistance.

This is also what makes him often involved in many phases and almost looked like getting a free-roam role.

Because he is everywhere…

Not only with his passing, but his carries is also used by Arsenal to bypass the opponent’s press and initiate Arsenal’s attacks. This made Zinchenko an important asset for Arsenal to escape the opponent’s press and launch Arsenal’s attacks.

Zinchenko’s Role In Arsenal’s Rest Defense

During the attacking phase, Arsenal usually forms a 2–3–5, and the 3 midfield players are usually filled by Ben White (RB), Partey (DM), and Zinchenko (LB). The 3 players in the middle allow Arsenal to increase control as well as counter-press to prevent counterattacks and sustain pressure.

Zinchenko’s role in Arsenal’s rest defense is seen in the 1st goal against Brighton. Arsenal was able to snatch the ball after Zinchenko and Partey counter-pressed, then Arsenal take advantage of transition situations to score goals.

Invert and Overlap Depending On The Situation

With his passing ability and composure like a midfielder, Zinchenko can act as Arsenal’s tempo setter. If we look at Arsenal’s first goal against Man United, Arsenal initially circulated slowly while rotating positions. Then, Zinchenko accelerated the tempo after seeing the disorganization on the right side of MU’s defense and Arsenal could score goals through this situation.

As seen in the previous example, Zinchenko often gives breaking-the-line passes to break down defensive blocks. Therefore, he really excels in doing that and it was proven in the stats.

If we have seen Zinchenko who is inverted to set the tempo by circulating, providing breaking the line pass to dismantle the opponent’s defensive block, as well as forming a rest defense to prevent the opponent’s counterattack as in the previous examples. Zinchenko can also overlap when the opportunity arises. An example is the third goal against Man United, Zinchenko overlapped to create a wide overload with Trossard to get a 2v1 situation against Wan Bissaka and get space to provide a cutback pass which was eventually converted into a goal.

This showed that Zinchenko doesn’t always invert, but also overlaps when needed.

Defensive Aspect
After previously I explained Zinchenko’s role during the build-up and attacking phase, next we will explain Zinchenko’s role from the defensive aspect. When the opponent builds up, Arsenal is quite aggressive in doing high press man-to-man against teams that build up with 4 defenders or 5 defenders. Zinchenko’s pressing trigger is usually when the ball is on the right flank from the opponent’s side.

For example here, when Arsenal faced Brighton, Arsenal defended themselves by mirroring the build-up shape of Brighton so that they would not be outnumbered by Brighton’s outfield players. Zinchenko press the Brighton right fullback (Lamptey) when the ball was on the opponent’s right flank.

Another example was against Spurs, where Zinchenko pressed to Spurs’ right wing-back (Doherty) when the ball was on the opponent’s right flank and would drop after the ball was no longer in Doherty.

Another defensive aspect that Zinchenko can do well apart from pressing, is aerial duels. Interestingly, even though he is only 175 cm tall (the lowest compared to the other 2 fullbacks like Tomiyasu and White), Zinchenko is quite good at aerial duels.

According to Fbref data for the 2022/2023 Premier League season which compares fullbacks, it shows that Zinchenko is superior in aerial duels with 86 percentile (1.80 aerial duels won per 90) compared to Ben White who is 186 cm tall with only 47 percentile (1.01 aerial duels won per 90) and Tomiyasu who is 185 cm tall with only 60 percentile (1.25 aerial duels won per 90)

Weakness

Even though he has good defensive qualities like pressing and aerial duels, he also has weaknesses, especially in 1v1 duels.

Zinchenko’s strengths and weaknesses can be seen in the fbref version of defensive metrics, where Zinchenko excels in pressing (which can be seen in the tackles mid 3rd and att 3rd) and also his aerial duel skills (which have been shown before), while Zinchenko’s weaknesses can be seen in the dribbles tackled, % of dribblers tackled, and dribbled past.

Therefore Arteta’s way to cover Zinchenko’s weaknesses is with Xhaka or Martinelli who are trackbacks to help so that Zinchenko avoids a 1v1 situation. Although, sometimes tricky wingers (like Kulusevski in the video above) still can find ways to go through.

This proved that Zinchenko has succeeded in becoming an important player for Arsenal under Arteta’s tutelage. He is able to help in many aspects, especially in Arsenal’s build-up and attacking phase. He has also won the Premier League with Manchester City 4 times. He and Gabriel Jesus help Arteta to establish a winning mentality at this young Arsenal team.

Pep says he has no regrets about selling Zinchenko to Arsenal. However, it would be interesting if it turns out that proceeds from selling Zinchenko actually help Arsenal to win the Premier League title that the Gunners has been waiting for almost two decades.

Still a long way to go, though.