Arsenal's Right Flank Dilemma: Madueke's Fitness and Tactical Options

Mikel Arteta walked into his pre‑Anfield press conference with that familiar half-smile, the one that says plenty and confirms almost nothing.

Arsenal head to Liverpool with a problem that has been quietly brewing on the right flank. Bukayo Saka is out with a quad injury. Max Dowman is suspended for three games after the club failed to overturn his red card against Fleetwood. The safety net is gone. The margin for error, at a ground like Anfield, is even smaller.

So all eyes turned to one name.

Madueke: First choice, last-minute call

The key question on Friday was simple: will Noni Madueke make it?

“We don’t know yet,” Arteta replied, the words as familiar as they were frustrating. The contrast with his updates on Declan Rice, Riccardo Calafiori and Christos Tzolis was stark. Those three trained fully on Friday and are expected to be available. Madueke, though, remains in the grey area managers like to keep close to their chest.

His ankle issue, the one that kept him out against Fleetwood, is not thought to be serious. Inside the club, there is still an expectation he travels to Merseyside. Arsenal need him. Desperately.

Since the last international break, Madueke has looked sharp, whether stationed on the left or right. He stretched Everton, then swung in the cross that dragged Arsenal back into the game against Leeds earlier this month. With Saka and Dowman missing, he is the only natural right winger left standing.

Arteta made it clear the final decision will go right to the wire.

“We don’t know yet,” he repeated on Friday. “We have a training session tomorrow. [Let’s] see if he can complete that full session tomorrow, and after that we’ll know whether he’s available or not.”

If he wakes up fine, trains well and feels no reaction, he starts. If the ankle flares up again, Arteta’s selection board becomes a puzzle.

That is where the improvisation begins.

Tzolis: Risk and reward at Anfield

Christos Tzolis is the next name on the list, but using him from the start at Anfield would be a bold call.

He has not played a single minute for Arsenal since suffering a hamstring injury with Greece on October 1. He only returned to full training this week and completed Friday’s session, a positive step but not a guarantee of match sharpness. Dropping him straight into a game of this intensity would be a gamble.

There is also the question of role. Right wing is not his natural home. Every appearance he has made for Arsenal so far has come on the left, the position he was signed to strengthen in the summer when Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Martinelli left the club.

Tzolis is, however, no stranger to the opposite flank. Last season he started on the right and scored for Club Brugge in a Champions League tie against Atletico Madrid. Across his career, he has made 26 appearances as a right winger. Enough to know the runs, the angles, the habits of the role.

If Madueke is ruled out, the Tzolis question becomes less about tactics and more about trust in his body. Can he handle 60, 70, 90 minutes at Anfield after a month out? Or does Arteta hold him back as an impact option, rather than a starter, in a game that can swing wildly in the final half-hour?

The temptation will be there. So will the risk.

Havertz: The emergency solution

Strip away Madueke, Saka, Dowman and a half-fit Tzolis, and Arteta reaches the “break glass in case of emergency” stage of his planning.

That’s where Kai Havertz comes in.

Arteta has shown a clear reluctance to rip up his structure. He prefers tweaks over wholesale change, especially in big games. So instead of abandoning his system, he could ask Havertz to patch the hole on the right.

On paper, it sounds awkward. On the pitch, it might just be workable.

In possession, Havertz could drift infield, operating almost as a second striker off Viktor Gyokeres, leaving the width to an overlapping full-back. Without the ball, he has the engine and discipline to drop into the defensive shape, press, and block passing lanes. He has done thankless tactical jobs before and Arteta values that reliability.

Nobody at Arsenal would pretend this is ideal. On current form, Havertz would struggle to claim a starting spot in his preferred roles, let alone out wide at Anfield. But managers lean on trust when options run thin, and there are few players Arteta trusts more to follow a detailed brief.

Desperate times can produce strange line-ups. They can also define seasons.

Arsenal’s right wing at Anfield may end up being a simple decision: Madueke passes his final test and starts. If not, Arteta’s choice becomes a measure of how much risk he is willing to shoulder in one of the most unforgiving arenas in English football.