Arsenal: Calum Chambers, Rob Holding paint positive picture of future

Arsenal deployed a young defensive line for the first time in years and it was a bit shaky, but the picture they painted of the future was nothing but positive.

Arsenal’s defense is old. Nacho Monreal is losing his pace. Per Mertesacker is retiring. Laurent Koscielny is constantly in pain. That leaves the three under-25 defenders to start showing something for the future.

We already know that Shkodran Mustafi is the real deal. He’s the centerpiece of the future of the defense. He’s the control tower and he is someone we can definitely invest in.

But building around him would be so much easier if it didn’t require significant investment. Calum Chambers and Rob Holding were the way. Both English, both highly touted. All they needed was opportunity.

For the first time since getting shellacked by Liverpool at the start of 2016/17 season (a result that saw Chambers shipped out on loan) Holding and Chambers were out there on the same pitch together in the Premier League.

And it was against Chelsea.

Initial returns are a bit negative. There were clearly nervy confidence issues that plagued these two young men. Holding succumbed to some rash fouls and Chambers struggled with belief in his own ability.

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Both gradually faded as they settled into the game and both were pretty effective by the end of the thrilling match. Chambers had some troubles with Morata, none of which ended up biting him, and Holding had his fair share of issues.

But at the crux of their partnership around Mustafi, there were the positive signs you want to see. There was strength, intelligence and proactive defending. There was also that meanness that I’ve been falling in love with between the two Englishman.

These positives are traits that will stick with them. That meanness is a character trait the Gunners aren’t used to having and we’ve been seeing it develop over the past few matches that they’ve been involved in. They are pricklers, annoyances to opposing attackers.

As far as the negatives, most of what they did on that front can be brushed off as immaturity. Immaturity goes away with time. They just need time on the pitch. That is the easiest cure to the problems we saw. In time, they won’t make those mistakes anymore.

Next: 5 Things Learned Against Chelsea

I get that it wasn’t perfect and that there were points of concern, but as the future of the defense, I liked what I saw, and you should too. The positives were lasting traits. The negatives were rust and immaturity.

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