Pain in the Arsenal
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Arsenal Vs West Ham United: Predicted starting XI – Future of the defence

By Andrew Dowdeswell

LONDON, ENGLAND - DECEMBER 13: Arsene Wenger, Manager of Arsenal looks on prior to the Premier League match between West Ham United and Arsenal at London Stadium on December 13, 2017 in London, England. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - DECEMBER 13: Arsene Wenger, Manager of Arsenal looks on prior to the Premier League match between West Ham United and Arsenal at London Stadium on December 13, 2017 in London, England. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images) /
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Arsenal, Calum Chambers
COLOGNE, GERMANY – NOVEMBER 23: Calum Chambers of Arsenal and Sehrou Guirassy of FC Koeln in action during the UEFA Europa League group H match between 1. FC Koeln and Arsenal FC at RheinEnergieStadion on November 23, 2017 in Cologne, Germany. (Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images) /

Centre-Halves

Neither Per Mertesacker nor Laurent Koscielny are in the prime of their respective careers. They are both the wrong side of 30, Mertesacker will retire at the end of the season, taking up a role to lead the Arsenal academy, and Koscielny has shown signs of his decline as his body ages this year. Arsenal need to begin thinking about their successors.

Thankfully, that does not necessarily mean dipping into the transfer market. Both Calum Chambers and Rob Holding have displayed the natural talent to suggest that they can yet develop into consistently top-level centre-halves. There is still much improvement that needs to be made, from both, and only time will tell if they can deliver on their talent.

But regular starts alongside each other in matches like against West Ham will be beneficial for their progression, both on an individual and collective basis. They looked comfortable alongside one another against BATE Borisov earlier in the year. Let’s hope they do so again on Tuesday.