Arsenal have been beleaguered by defensive injuries this season, and in the central role Mavropanos, Mustafi and Sokratis (and Koscielny of course) have all had spells on the sidelines. But there has been one silver lining amongst this as the young Rob Holding has been given a lot of time to prove himself, and has proved to e a rock. I don’t think we even got one clean sheet before he was put in the side.
One person who he has impressed is the ex-Tottenham star Garth Crooks named Holding in his team of the week on the BBC after his display against Liverpool. “In a team very different from the one Arsene Wenger tried to create prior to leaving Arsenal, there is a particular player that has surprised me a great deal,” he wrote.
“I’ve seen Rob Holding play for Arsenal but never better than when I saw him against Liverpool.
“In a white-hot atmosphere, the defender was cool on the ball and played with a confidence and assurance I hadn’t seen before.
“I said Unai Emery would get it together at Arsenal, I just didn’t think it would be so soon. Damn!”
Did you know? Only Granit Xhaka (97) attempted more passes for Arsenal against Liverpool than Holding (81) – the defender also won 70% of his 10 duels in the game.
So he has now created a big headache for Emery, as even Mustafi played quite well this weekend. When Sokratis comes back, who would you pick as your two first-choice central defenders on this season’s form?
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