If there was any doubt as to who Arsenal's first-choice penalty taker is, the incident against Manchester City has removed it once and for all.
During the final eight games of last season, when the Gunners were awarded spot-kicks against Chelsea, Manchester United and Everton, it was Bukayo Saka (2) and Gabriel Martinelli who stepped up - in the absence of Alexandre Lacazette - and their success rate was 100%.
Although, with Arsenal splashing out a total of £57million in successive transfer windows this season to sign Gabriel Jesus (£45m) and Jorginho (£12m) from Man City and Chelsea respectively, all of a sudden the aforementioned pair, Saka in particular, were faced with a fresh challenge for penalty duty.
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In the Brazil international's case, his individual target before the season started was to fight for the Premier League Golden Boot award. Of course, that is virtually impossible now given how far out in front Erling Haaland is, but in a dream scenario, taking penalties would have boosted his chances.
Interestingly, based on the Gunners' 3-2 win over Liverpool earlier in the season, the indication was the England international was at the top of the list as he took responsibility - even with Jesus on the pitch at the time - and dispatched the spot-kick despite Alisson Becker guessing correctly.
Meanwhile, following the arrival of Jorginho in January, it may have crossed Mikel Arteta's mind to reverse this decision, thus creating something of an awkward situation. After all, it's well documented that the midfielder, during his time in Serie A, the Premier League, and with the Italy national team, has proven himself to be one of the most reliable penalty takers around.
Of the 41 he's taken throughout his career, only seven have been missed. The most recent one was in Chelsea's 1-0 win against West Ham United last season and ironically he had one saved against Arsenal in the 2020/21 season as Bernd Leno guessed correctly to keep out his spot-kick.
Furthermore, he has already been successful with the three penalties he's taken this season - against Manchester United, AC Milan in the Champions League and Everton - to show that his misses from 12 yards are extremely rare.
However, despite this record, a definitive answer with regard to who Arsenal's first-choice penalty taker came against Man City on Wednesday night as Jorginho - who started the game in the absence of Thomas Partey - was the one ending up giving encouragement to Saka instead of taking the spot kick.
Just like the previous three penalties taken in an Arsenal shirt, Saka sent Ederson the wrong way to equalise for the hosts and the fact he stepped up once again should effectively confirm he's number one on this particular list with Jorginho and Jesus capable deputies when he's not on the pitch.
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