'Absolutely fantastic': Jamie Carragher praises £42m Arsenal star after one moment vs Chelsea
Liverpool legend-turned-pundit Jamie Carragher heaped praise on Riccardo Calafiori following his contribution towards Arsenal’s winning Premier League goal against Chelsea yesterday.
The Gunners continued their perfect start to the campaign with a 2-1 comeback win over the Blues. Morgan Rogers opened the scoring after just two minutes on the clock for the visitors.
Kai Havertz equalised for the Gunners in the 25th minute before Martin Odegaard’s 50th-minute winner. Odegaard was handed the man of the match, but Carragher was equally impressed by Calafiori.
The Italian left-back has started the season brilliantly with one goal and two assists. He had a goal chalked off for offside yesterday but contributed indirectly to Odegaard’s early second-half winner.
The £42 million signing made a brilliant forward inverted run before moving across to the left flank. This created the space for Kai Havertz, who produced a brilliant dummy before Odegaard found the net.
Carragher described Calafiori as the ‘best left back in the league’ last month, and he reiterated the same on Sky Sports yesterday and said that he has been ‘absolutely fantastic’ with his impact from left-back.
He told Sky Sports: “The best left back in the league, he dictated the formation of Chelsea. You see Calafiori makes that run forward, Neto then drops in to make it a back five. That’s what Chelsea were today, they were flirting with a back four in the main and at times a back five.
“It was all about the position of Calafiori. Now he makes a run between Neto and Lacroix. It opens up the space between Havertz and the centre-backs. This is the impact he is having on games from left-back, absolutely fantastic.”
The 24-year-old had a quieter game by his standards against Chelsea. The left-back won just one duel and completed 19 passes before he was replaced by Piero Hincapie in the 67th minute.
Despite this, Calafiori made his presence felt in the lead-up to Odegaard’s goal. It was a repeat from the Community Shield, where he had a similar movement to create space for Havertz and Odegaard.
Arsenal face Napoli on the road in their Champions League opener on Wednesday night. Calafiori could be given a breather after starting four straight games. He could come on as a substitute for Hincapie.
We could see more changes to the XI. The likes of Bruno Guimaraes and Eberechi Eze could also be involved in the starting line-up against the Naples outfit at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.
Stats from Sofascore.com
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