The incredible Kieran Tierney Scotland stat as Arsenal defender loving new Steve Clarke system

Anyone who has watched the Arsenal fly-on-the-wall job on Amazon Prime will know Kieran Tierney can be a man of few words but the ones he does use tend to hit the mark. Magic, was how he described the winning formula concocted by Scotland boss Steve Clarke for Wednesday night’s thrilling 3-0 dismantling of Ukraine. Chemistry might be another word though.

We don’t know if Tierney is a fan of Breaking Bad on Netflix but teacher turned-crystal-meth-cook Walter White said chemistry IS magic, and we got to see proof at Hampden the other night. Gordon Strachan, Alex McLeish and Clarke have all tried to work out the perfect equation for fitting the Gunners ace into the Scotland side alongside world class captain and Liverpool Andy Robertson, when the pair of them occupy similar roles for their clubs.

The current gaffer has found one that works better than most, with Tierney operating on the left side of three centre backs in a position that was pretty much created for him. There’s not many underlapping and overlapping centre backs in world football but it’s done the business under Clarke in recent times.

But there was something special about seeing Tierney back in his natural habitat against Ukraine the other night – playing left back for Scotland for the first time in six years. Incredibly, KT has only played there twice in his 33 caps for the country – and that was in his first two appearances back in 2016.

It was like pulling on a pair of old slippers for the former Celtic star and his performance might reopen the headache for Clarke when Robertson returns. Tierney – who helped tee up John McGinn for the crucial opener against Ukraine – was just thrilled to be on the park as usual and delighted the chemistry was just