Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has a number of difficult decisions to make regarding his starting line-up for Sunday's Premier League clash against Manchester City. Upfront is a tough choice, with Kai Havertz's aerial threat making him a potential option alongside Gabriel Jesus and Eddie Nketiah.
The Spaniard must also choose who he wants at right-back. Ben White has started every Premier League match, preferred at right-back since Thomas Partey's injury.
But Takehiro Tomiyasu may very well be the sensible option this weekend given his superior defensive acumen when facing a dangerous winger in one-versus-one situations. City summer signing Jeremy Doku is likely to be deployed up against whichever right-back the Gunners go for and the Belgian international's take-on ability makes him one of the most difficult assignments for a fullback to be given.
As per fbref, Doku has averaged 4.12 successful take-ons per 90 minutes in the league this term, the best rate of any player to have played more than 300 minutes. City boss Pep Guardiola has made it no secret of his admiration for the former Rennes attacker, comparing him to the likes of Raheem Sterling and Leroy Sane.
"I would say the wingers we had in the past were the type of wingers with incredible skill and quality but not with the pace that we had with Leroy and Raheem,” Guardiola said last month. “We didn’t have it in the past. Cole [Palmer] has now gone to Chelsea, Riyad [Mahrez], Bernardo [Silva], Phil [Foden], Jack [Grealish], of course they are quick it’s more the quality of intelligence.
"Their ability one against one. But this explosive in five or six metres that Jeremy has, it is quite similar to Leroy and Raheem before.”
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Tomiyasu is more suited to deal with this kind of threat than White and the numbers back it up. The Japanese international tackles, on average, 65.2% of dribbles he faces, comfortably superior to White (52.1%) in this respect.
And it's not as if he is making considerably fewer challenges either. In fact, the 25-year-old loses just 0.61 challenges per 90, again a better record than White, who registers 0.86 per 90.
White is perhaps the more progressive on-ball player, more comfortable providing width going forward and making overlapping runs. But it is Tomiyasu who will give Arsenal a more solid base against City, something they desperately need in what could prove to be a season-defining game in the Premier League title race.
