Arsenal: Is Rob Holding better than Shkodran Mustafi?

Rob Holding was given a chance to start at the heart of the Arsenal defence with Sokratis’ injury. He is taking it. In fact, he might be better than his new partner, Shkodran Mustafi.

It is often the case that injuries force a manager’s hand and instigate the development of a young player. Because of their youth and inexperience, young prospects are not trusted to be starting players and only serve as depth, and are turned to when those who are starting are unavailable for whatever reason.

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Hector Bellerin burst onto the scene in Mathieu Debuchy’s absence. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain had to wait for Theo Walcott to break down. Calum Chambers only started last season once Laurent Koscielny ruptured his Achilles. And now there is another example of a young player benefitting from an injury to a starter.

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Sokratis hobbled off midway through Arsenal’s 2-0 win over Everton last weekend. His replacement on the day, Rob Holding, has started both games since, including Saturday’s 2-0 win against Watford, his first league start of the year, and has impressed mightily in this deputy role. Although Brentford are a class of opposition well below the Gunners and make it difficult to accurately assess Holding’s performance, in the 51 minutes against Everton and the 90 minutes against Watford, the 23-year-old — he turned 23 last week — was thrust into the fire. I’m glad to say that he survived.

But he didn’t just survive. He actually thrived. Playing alongside the notoriously frenetic and unpredictable Shkodran Mustafi, Holding was actually the far more composed and assured defender. It was him who looked like the wily old veteran and Mustafi who resembled the panicked, unprepared youngster, not the other way around.

With Unai Emery allowing Chambers to depart on loan in the summer, Holding immediately inherited the role of ‘first reserve’. He was the person that Emery chose to rely upon if anything happened to Sokratis or Mustafi during Koscielny’s recovery, which could still extend well into December and maybe even the new year. Emery obviously had at least an element of trust in Holding’s capabilities.

And in these two-and-a-half matches, Holding has repaid that trust. I named him Man of the Match for his performance against Watford, in large part because of the calmness and confidence that he showed throughout the 90 minutes, especially when defending crosses which Watford rained into the box, something that was a clear tactic of Javi Garcia.

Holding, in fact, was the far better defender than his grappling, naive, over-eager partner who repeatedly committed silly fouls when trying to compete for headers and frequently scampered out of his position to hare after the ball, vacating key spaces that could have allowed Watford to open Arsenal up with the right combination. This was vintage Mustafi: very good for 85 minutes but extremely vulnerable during the other five.

It could well be the case that Holding is simply the better player. Arsenal have been waiting for Mustafi to deliver on his talent. Perhaps it’s Holding that will finally provide the goods.