Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta was able to experiment in Wednesday night’s Champions League encounter with PSV Eindhoven.
The Gunners were already 7-1 up from the last-16 first leg, meaning the second leg was effectively a formality.
Oleksandr Zinchenko, playing in midfield, opened the scoring after just six minutes, though Ivan Perisic equalised for PSV in the 18th minute.
Declan Rice then made it 2-1 on 37 minutes before PSV found another equaliser on 70 minutes, this time through Couhaib Driouech.
The Arsenal boss also started Raheem Sterling and gave Myles Lewis-Skelly some time playing in midfield, which Arsenal fans loved to see.
Zinchenko, speaking after the game, shared what he found “unbelievable” about playing in Arsenal’s midfield, which he told Rice and Martin Odegaard.
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Oleksandr Zinchenko stunned by how much running Arsenal midfielders have to do
Zinchenko is no stranger to playing in midfield, having done so plenty of times for club and country in his career.
However, he has played at left-back for most of his time at Arsenal, and it’s only now that he’s starting to get a look-in centrally.
Zinchenko, speaking to TNT Sports, revealed that he could now see just how much running the likes of Rice and Odegaard have to do every game, sometimes every three days.
“I wouldn’t say it’s a completely new position, because all my life I was playing there and especially also in the national team I used to play a lot over there,” said Zinchenko.
“But obviously at this high level at Arsenal, it’s different demands.
“At half-time, I just said to the lads, Martin and Declan, I said ‘unbelievable how much… now I realize how much you guys are running every three days’, so this is the level.”
What the future holds for Oleksandr Zinchenko at Arsenal
Zinchenko has been linked with a move away from the Emirates Stadium for a number of months now.
The Ukraine international has slipped down the pecking order at left-back, with Riccardo Calafiori, Myles Lewis-Skelly and even Jakub Kiwior ahead of him.
Indeed, it has been reported that Zinchenko ‘has now accepted that it would be futile to keep pushing to get into the squad on a more regular basis’.
However, there are signs that Zinchenko’s Arsenal career could now be back on the up, depending on how he fares as a midfielder.
With Thomas Partey and Jorginho set to be out of contract in the summer, Zinchenko certainly has the opportunity of extending his Arsenal career in midfield.
