AFC Bournemouth vs Arsenal: 3 things we observed from an Arsenal perspective | Premier League 2018-19

#2 The impact of Sead Kolasinac, and his best position for Arsenal

Overall he put in his best performance of the season so far

This was arguably the Bosnian's best performance of the season so far. He was instrumental to both goals. First, his cross was turned in by a Bournemouth player for an own goal, while he provided the assist for Arsenal's winning goal scored by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

Although he had a few moments where he was not at his best, overall he put in his best performance of the season so far.

Another factor which also assisted him was the tweak in formation adopted by Unai Emery. Due to minor knocks to Alexandre Lacazette as well as the omission of Mesut Ozil in the starting line-up, Emery reverted to a surprising 5-4-1 formation.

The return of Sokratis afforded Emery the opportunity to use this formation, which may have come as a surprise to Eddie Howe. The three centre-backs afforded Kolasinac the opportunity to surge forward with ease, and made him not unnecessarily worried about leaving a vacuum in the defence, as a result of an extra centre half to cover up when he makes his forays forward.

It must be said that Kolasinac is more suited to that left wing-back position, as he is not blessed with pace to cover up when the team is being attacked. He thrived in this position during his early days under former manager Arsene Wenger, and this still remains his best position till date.

Arguably, he offers more going forward than Nacho Monreal with his strength and agility, but he is not as balanced both defensively and in attack like the Spaniard.