Will this Arsenal defence be strong enough to keep Man Utd out?

Defence is going to play a major role when Man Utd and Arsenal lock horns in Monday nights Premier League clash at Old Trafford.

Unai Emery has to get it right at the back, especially when you will have a lightening David James running at you or a Harry Maguire flying in at set-pieces.

It is very likely that Kieran Tierney will start in the left wing-back role and Chambers on the right side, Hector Bellerin is not yet ready and so that leaves the two centre half spots.

Sadly, I am fairly sure that Emery will still go with David Luiz, he has faith in the Brazilian and he is not yet at the stage that he will drop the error-prone former Chelsea defender.

So, that leaves just the one centre half position and I feel that Emery is at the stage where he will drop Sokratis and that will mean a call up for Rob Holding.

It is not yet the strongest defence that Emery has available to him, that will happen once Hector Bellerin is back to full match fitness but the defence of Tierney, Luiz, Holding and Chambers is still quite a strong one.

It is slightly unbalanced, Chambers cannot do the runs that Tierney can do but the flank will be stronger than it has been for quite a while now.

Holding can hopefully bring more calmness to the centre of defence and offset some of Luizโ€™s eccentricities and he also offers up an attacking option at set-pieces.

So, would a four man defence of Tierney, Luiz, Holding and Chambers be good enough to stop Man Utd on Monday evening?

28 Comments

  1. Admin. When I click ‘Post Comment’ the page refreshes but does not take me back to my comment as it used to. In fact ALL COMMENTS except the very first one under the article have disappeared. I then have to go to justarsenal.com and find my way back from there for everything to work correctly.

    I’ve disabled my adblocker but that hasn’t worked. My other browser extensions are ‘Disable HTML5 Autoplay’, ‘I don’t care about cookies’ and ‘New Tab Homepage’

    Any ideas – or has my computer started to fight back after years of abuse!? Thanks.

      1. Hi AdMart, Iโ€™ve got the same problem, also I notice quite a few duplicate posts due to the time taken between pressing the Reply button and the screen changing and I think that prompts posters to press again.

    1. That happened to me too, I just clicked the title of the article after the page refreshed and it solved the problem.
      No, it’s the same in my computer, yours is still alright.

    2. It does that too, on my phone. Also, when you look at the list of latest comments.. if you click on one, it no longer takes you directly to that comment. It takes you to the article, but says there’s only one comment….

  2. As long as Martial and Rashford don’t play, I think Luiz, Holding and Xhaka are good enough to keep Lingard and Pogba at bay

    Tierney’ pace is good to contain any Man United RW, but I’m worried about Chambers if he plays as an RB. Swansea’s Jefferson Montero and other LWs skinned Chambers alive several times, when he played on the right side several seasons ago

    Montero exposed Chambers’ speed, but probably James wouldn’t have the same effect because he is not as tricky as Montero

    1. Yes Gotanidea, that used to be but after his loan spell he has improved a lot. He is more assured in one-on-one situations and keep a safe distance from his opponent.
      It’s AMN that worries me, in preseason he was roasted by wingers, I get it he is learning but how come it’s in the first team.

  3. Yes. Sounds good

    Defensively I like

    Leno
    Chambers..Holding..Luiz..Tierney
    Torreira…Guendouzi

    No Xhaka, Mustafi or Sokratis

  4. It all boils down to tactics and the defensive midfield set up. If the midfield does not provide cover for the defense, it doesn’t matter which 4 defenders he fields they will be in trouble. The team must be compact. Having said that I do not foresee Emery making many changes to his preferred back 4 just yet. Expect Sokratis, Luiz to play as well as Xhaxa.

  5. I think Emery will still go with the same center back pairing maybe the only thing that will change will be the full backs. I hope Emery gets it right. He will get back the fans support and confidence if he can snatch a victory at old Trafford. I can’t even remember when last we won there so it will do him much good

  6. Iโ€™m hoping Tierney plays left back and not left wing back as AdMart is suggesting, but funnily enough then picks a back four but though Iโ€™d go with Tierney and Chambers as the full backs my two centre backs would be Holding and a Mustafi. Ok there may be an occasional brain fart from Mustafi but at least we wonโ€™t see the wrestler Sokratis giving away pens and free kicks.

  7. No.. it probably won’t be (we rarely do clean sheets!)..so, we’ll have to just go for the jugular from the off… attack, attack, attack!!!
    Having said that, I’ll be so happy to see Tierney start.. and with Bellerin not playing, as he played (& assisted ๐Ÿ˜‰) yesterday, for the time being, that probably is as good as it’s gonna get…so come on Arsenal!!

  8. If Emery goes kamikaze on the attack,he will be suckers for the MU counter attack.On paper Arsenal’s attack is stronger. That doesn’t mean MU cant score.
    Hopefully Emery will have a defence that can defend and not allow the reds to have 30 shots at goal.

  9. How many more mistakes n how many more penalties those clowns can make/give away before emery drop them??๐Ÿ˜ฐ๐Ÿ˜ฐ

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