Craig Scott

Sat 4 January 2020 16:00, UK

Marcelo Bielsa has confirmed that Ezgjan Alioski is set to start on the right-wing on Monday night when Leeds United take on Arsenal in the FA Cup third round.

As quoted by the Yorkshire Evening Post on Saturday, Bielsa has revealed that Helder Costa is going to be rested for the trip to the Emirates and Alioski will replace him on the right, with Barry Douglas filling in at left-back.

It means that Alioski is likely to come up against Arsenal youngster Bukayo Saka, who has played as the Gunners’ left-back in recent weeks.

Saka, 18, has played on the left-wing most of this season but the teenager has been moved to play in the defence due to an injury crisis at the Emirates.

According to the London Evening Standard, he is expected to start in that role once again on Monday when Leeds travel to the capital – and Alioski should be licking his lips.

The 27-year-old Leeds ace has been in superb form this season in the Championship and if there is one thing he is able to do, it’s exposing full-backs.

Alioski is lightning-fast, never stops running and has the ability to beat the likes of Saka, who is not really geared towards playing in a defensive role.

Stats by WhoScored show that the Arsenal teen only averaged 0.3 blocks per league game and gets dribbled past 1.3 times per appearance.

Alioski has played a lot of his matches at left-back this season but still averaged 0.5 dribbles per Championship appearance, 1.9 shots at goal, 1.3 key passes and 0.4 crosses.

Alioski, in the form that he has been in recent weeks, could take advantage of Arsenal starting a young and inexperienced attack-minded player at left-back.

It could be the reason why Bielsa is opting to start the former Lugano flyer on the right-wing so that he can expose Saka.

If that is the case then Alioski could run rings around the England Under-19 international on Monday night.

In other Leeds United news, there has been an update on Pablo Hernandez’s recovery from injury.