Ben White produced a Man of the Match performance as Arsenal secured a hard-fought draw against Liverpool in the first leg of their EFL Cup semi-final.
Eyebrows were raised when the Gunners paid Brighton £50million for White last summer, but he’s already starting to justify that price tag.
The England international has helped shore up Arsenal’s leaky defence and made his 22nd appearance of the season against Liverpool.
Despite Granit Xhaka receiving a red card in the 24th minute, White and his Arsenal team-mates defended resiliently to per cent Liverpool from having a single shot on target.
We’ve taken a look at seven of the best stats from his Man of the Match display in the 0-0 draw.
– White made more tackles (3), more interceptions (3) and more blocks (3) than any other player on the pitch.
– The 24-year-old also won three of his ground duels and made five clearances against Jurgen Klopp’s side.
– Arsenal needed to avoid making any more silly mistakes after Xhaka’s red card and White recorded a 100% tackle success rate.
🗣 Ben White: “There’s so much fight in this team, it showed today. We dug deep and got the result we needed.” #afcpic.twitter.com/As43DQQ6kh
— DailyAFC (@DailyAFC) January 13, 2022
– Despite playing against the likes of Diogo Jota and Roberto Firmino, the defender wasn’t dribbled past by a single Liverpool player.
– He didn’t see a lot of the ball against Liverpool but still showcased his impressive passing range, completing three long balls at Anfield.
– White’s impressive performance helped Arsenal become the first team to stop Liverpool from scoring at Anfield in 2021-22. The Gunners are also the first visiting side to keep a clean sheet at Anfield when there was a crowd since Bayern Munich in February 2019.
– White has now kept 11 clean sheets in his first 22 appearances for Arsenal in all competitions. That’s just eight less than Arsenal recorded throughout last season.
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