Arsenal Vs Crystal Palace: Hector Bellerin’s perfect challenge

Arsenal travel to Crystal Palace on Sunday afternoon. For Hector Bellerin, likely to face Wilfried Zaha, it is the perfect challenge of his recent form.

Wilfried Zaha might be the best player in the Premier League not playing for a top-six side. There were plenty of rumours linking him with a move away in the summer, but he decided to stay at Crystal Palace and has continued his form of the past year or two.

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When Arsenal travel to Selhurst Park on Sunday afternoon to face Zaha’s Palace, it will undoubtedly by the whippet-legged winger that they will have to try and contain. That is no easy task.

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Zaha, predominantly playing from the left, will provide the perfect challenge for Arsenal right back, Hector Bellerin. Wonderfully quick with the ball at his feet, Zaha is the most fouled player in the Premier League, a clear illustration of his dribbling ability. He shifts the ball from side to side with lightning speed, his balance and agility are outstanding, and he has the intelligence and anticipation to read the body position of the defender and then burst into the space that opens up as a result.

Bellerin, meanwhile, is in some of the best form of his career. After bursting onto the scene three years ago, the Spaniard toiled through a difficult couple of years, struggling with injuries and confidence. But this year, under the management of Unai Emery, he seems to have rediscovered that same youthful spark with which he first displayed all those years ago.

Bellerin has been especially influential offensively — his two assists against Leicester City on Monday night are perfect examples of this.  But there are still some concerns over his defensive security, especially in his positioning, but also in one-on-one situations.

If Bellerin does move into too advanced areas of the pitch prior to the team being prepared and in shape for him to do so, then Zaha will not hesitate in exploiting the zones behind. Zaha driving at Shkodran Mustafi is an image fitting of a late October game, that is for sure. And even when Bellerin is in position, if he is not astute in his defending, hot on Zaha’s first touch, timing his pressing correctly and understanding when to drop off, then he will struggle to contain the flying Eagles winger.

There are few traditional wingers as dangerous as Zaha, with his direct style, his speed, his goal threat and his spatial awareness. For Bellerin, these are the type of players that he has been exposed by previously, Ryan Fraser and Leroy Sane perhaps being two of the more notable instances.

This is the perfect litmus test for Bellerin’s recent form. Can he replicate his performance against Leicester on Sunday when facing one of the most dangerous attackers in the Premier League? I guess we’ll have to wait and see.