Kevin Campbell is confident that Cedric Soares will do a good job when he comes up against Leeds United’s Raphinha this weekend.
The Portuguese full-back has had to play out of position as a left-back since last month after Kieran Tierney suffered an injury.
He has been fine in some games and has struggled in others.
Leeds United has some of the trickiest wingers in the Premier League with Brazilian Raphinha one of the hardest to play against.
As Cedric isn’t naturally left-footed, he could struggle to defend against the former Rennes man, but Campbell is confident that he would do well in the absence of Tierney.
He admitted that Tierney has been a fine addition to the Arsenal team and would be missed.
But he backs the Euro 2016 winner to nullify the threat of the winger.
He told Football Insider correspondent Dylan Childs: “Of course, you need Tierney to nullify Raphinha. But also he is so important for Arsenal because he provides that width down the left-hand side. That’s really important against a team like Leeds.
“Obviously, Cedric has been a good stand-in. He plays on the opposite side, he’s not naturally left-footed but we know he can play on the left.
“When you’ve got a natural left-footer it opens up so many more opportunities for the attack.
“We know Kieran Tierney’s a good defender but so is Cedric. He’ll have to keep his eye on Raphinha because he’s doing really, really well but he is capable of nullifying him.”
Raphinha played in the reverse fixture against the Gunners and he couldn’t do much in the goalless draw.
Why not put Gabriel there and peer Mari and holding center back while Cedric returns back to RB
Raphinha is a nightmare, am not too sure of cedric’s grit handling him, as he is fantastic on attack but a bit flat defending.
Then you have Bamford! I only hope, we show some agility and some level of bullying, as our midfielders appears to be more physical and aggressive that is if partey, xhaka are paired.
With KT injured, who would you prefer for the game then?
Personally I’d rather have Bellerin on the left and let Cedric play in his preferred position. Bellerin might as well do nothing on the left as he does on the right.