117 touches, 94% passing, 5 duels won: 23yo Arsenal star impresses in 5-0 World Cup qualifier win

Arsenal defender Riccardo Calafiori played 90 minutes during Italy’s 5-0 World Cup qualifier win over Estonia on Friday evening.

The 23-year-old has been injury-free at the start of the season, and has got the nod at left-back for the club ahead of Myles Lewis-Skelly.

Calafiori played as the left centre-back for the Azzurri yesterday. He had a comfortable game as the hosts secured a thumping victory.

Estonia did not concede until the 58th minute, thanks to the goalkeeping heroics of Arsenal graduate Karl Hein, who is currently on loan at Werder Bremen.

However, the floodgates opened thereafter. A late surge from Gennaro Gattuso’s side sealed a convincing 5-0 win at the Stadio di Bergamo.

Calafiori had 117 touches against Estonia. He made the most passes (99) with an accuracy of 94 percent.

The 23-year-old also won five duels and provided two key passes for his teammates.

Italy are presently third in the World Cup qualifier group with six points. The Azzurri will aim to climb to second by beating Israel on Monday.

With the importance of the fixture, Calafiori looks poised to start alongside Alessandro Bastoni again.

Arsenal suffered their first loss of the season after a slender 1-0 defeat at Liverpool last weekend.

The game was evenly fought until Dominik Szosbozlai’s stellar free-kick to break the deadlock.

The Gunners will aim to return to winning ways against Nottingham Forest after the international break.

Calafiori should continue at left-back ahead of Lewis-Skelly, having been in fine form on both ends of the pitch during the early phase of the season.

The Italian has three goal contributions in the league so far this term. He has won almost 60 percent of his duels, with three recoveries per outing.

Stats from Sofascore.com

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