Arsenal: Calum Chambers did it, Shkodran Mustafi can too

Shkodran Mustafi laid an egg against Manchester City, but Arsenal will turn to him again and he can replicate the Calum Chambers affect.

Arsenal’s defense was a hollow shell of a hollow shell against Manchester City. And that was the first time. We get to face Manchester City again today! Who’s excited? I actually am, because if there is one thing I know about the Gunners, it’s that absolutely anything and everything is possible.

Some people are concerned about the follow-up and I get that, of course I’m concerned to, but I have faith for one major reasons – Shkodran Mustafi.

It was about a week ago when Calum Chambers had a horrific match at centerback against Ostersunds FK. An own goal and a complete lack of composure earned him his first really awful performance of the season.

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Up until that point, it had actually been pretty promising. He was 23, coming into his own, and he looked every bit ready to be a Premier League defender. Again, until Ostersunds.

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I was pleasantly surprised to see Chambers given a chance at redemption, and against City of all teams. This was a massive test for him and he did – get ready to disagree with me – superb. I get the heavy criticism of the team, but Chambers himself did all he could possibly do, he played David Silva a bit too tight, but that was really his only major slip up.

He stuffed Leroy Sane twice and Sergio Aguero once, all three in one-on-one situations and overall, it’s a performance he should be proud of, even if the team is nowhere near the point of pride given how the match turned out.

Chambers was a professional. He recovered from a bad performance and proved that he had learned his lesson.

If he can do it, so can Shkodran Mustafi.

I have all the faith in the world that the Mustafi we saw against City the first time will not be seen again. Especially not a few days later against the same opponent. He is a professional too, a damn good one, and he knows that he not only made a major mistake, but that far more is expected of him.

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Mustafi is also not the kind of guy to be a trainwreck in such close proximity. He has had a remarkable level of consistency when he’s in peak form and when those blips pop up, they never repeat. Count on him to be back in top form. It’s happened too many times to bet against it.