Arsenal: Hello Hector Bellerin, I’ve missed you

Arsenal have been sticking with Hector Bellerin and this is why. The kid is finally settling into his own and I’ll go ahead and shut up now.

My warpath against Hector Bellerin can officially come to an end. All season long I’ve been griping about how Stephan Lichtsteiner should be the starting Arsenal rightback, because his defensive prowess more than makes up for the let-off in offensive power.

Bellerin has always been an attack-minded fullback. He used to be a winger, for starters, and that’s a major reason why. Then there’s the fact that he’s just damn fast.

But with Bellerin, the defensive deficiencies were blotting out any attempts he made to overshadow them with his own attacking play. During the early stretch of the season, he was not attacking well enough to cover for the defensive frailties.

Bellerin started to show signs of life against Fulham, attacking well, particularly late on, and delivering workable balls to streaking strikers. Can’t do much more than that.

But Leicester City took the cake by a long shot.

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Much like Mesut Ozil, Bellerin was pretty bad in the first half hour or so, culminating in an own goal that was just as much hard luck as his own fault. Maybe he could have marked Chilwell’s run better, but the deflection was an example of good recovery gone to shambles because of poor luck. It probably would have sputtered harmlessly to Leno had it not spun off Bellerin’s blocking leg.

Enough about the defense though. Bellerin is attack-minded, remember? And against the foxes, he was a wolf. He was a rampaging maniac on that right flank, having his way with the ball and the opposing defense. His crosses were brilliant, his attacking pristine, and he absolutely earned the two assists he walked away with, doubling his season tally from two to four and putting him in the team lead.

There was no mistaking the two assists that he made. They were sharp, inquisitive balls that found their way to exactly who he intended.

I’ve always admired Bellerin as a person, but I’ve struggled with him as a player. It was amazing seeing him back at his best, and it made me happy to shake off all my negative notions on the grounds of one hour of good play.

Welcome back to my good side, Bellerin! It probably means nothing to you, but it means a lot to me.