Arsenal: Shkodran Mustafi knows how to navigate redemption

Arsenal fans grow wearier of Shkodran Mustafi by the match, but he has his redemptive moments, and Liverpool gives him a chance at another.

The majority of Arsenal fans are ready to see Shkodran Mustafi shipped out of town. He hasn’t gelled well enough with the club and, in light of him being the “preferred” option at centerback, the back line has been in a constant state of flux as they’ve tried to establish any semblance of consistency.

Last season was the worst, as they gave up 51 goals, the most they have given up in quite some time. At the heart of that was the individual mistakes of Mustafi. Granted, he did have the veteran Laurent Koscielny in next to him, and that didn’t help either, so you can’t completely blame the German.

Although he certainly didn’t help.

All that said, there is one big reason why I still have faith in Mustafi. His ability to rise up from the depths of his struggles and perform in big games isn’t something that I think he gets enough credit for.

I think, first off, of his fantastic matches against Chelsea. I like to believe that it was Mustafi’s defending that delivered the final nail in Diego Costa’s coffin.

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And, when Alvaro Morata came to town to be Chelsea’s solution, Mustafi added to his pocketed striker collection.

Mustafi has had other significant performances too. When matched against the likes of Harry Kane, Romelu Lukaku and the like, he always manages to step up to the challenge and remind us that buried beneath the often confusing mental mistakes that he makes, is a very capable and dare I even say dominating defender.

He is a master of locking down a particular kind of striker.

Now, Liverpool don’t have that particular kind of striker. But it’s still a big match, with a big ask, and Mustafi has often arisen to these challenges to prove himself worth the time he is being given on the pitch.

I’ll be the first to admit that Shkodran Mustafi goes in and out of form quicker than any player I’ve ever seen. It isn’t like a “will he be in form or out of it” in any given match. It’s a “how many minutes in any given match will he be in form, how many will he be out, and how often he will switch back and forth.

But for this one, against Liverpool, when he knows what’s at stake, I actually believe that he can find redemption – yet again – in a big match-up.