Arsenal vs Tottenham: A back three to be proud of?

After the loss to Southampton, Arsenal’s defense has been asked even more questions, but the defensive forecast for Tottenham is something to be proud of.

Arsenal‘s defense was primarily at fault for the Southampton match. Three crosses, three headers, three goals, and thus did the unbeaten streak end. It was a shambolic defensive effort, but as I have said before, it was the perfect storm.

All three regular starting centerbacks were out, Kolasinac was out and Granit Xhaka had to play left centerback. You can’t even question the depth much, when you are missing four defenders (later five, when Bellerin went down), there isn’t a whole lot you can do.

However, regardless of how we got there, it was a poor defensive effort, and it leaves the questions hanging as far as how they will bounce back against Tottenham in the second North London Derby this season (and this month).

Thankfully, it’s a completely different story. Assuming that all the options are healthy, it’s looking like this back three won’t just be a “boost,” or an improvement on Southampton, it will be something to actually be proud of.

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Shkodran Mustafi will be slotting in to the right centerback slot (again, assuming he’s healthy), which ups our aerial game tenfold over what it was at St. Mary’s. He was sorely missed in the loss and he is going to be an impactful player in this one.

In the center could be either Sokratis or Laurent Koscielny, but for the sake of putting the best players where they play best, I would hope Sokratis gets the central role, as he has been a sentinel of sorts with that position, warding off potential attackers and not getting caught out of position.

And next to him – the captain, Laurent Koscielny. Who, while rusty against Southampton, is too good not to bounce back.

If that is the back three that is deployed in this one, then we should have absolute, unbridled confidence in them to not just show up, but actually put in a resounding effort. Those are three defenders with worlds of experience, talent and grit scattered across the board. And I wouldn’t be surprised if we start to see a flickering flame of promise in this defense, where once there was nothing but rubble.

I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself, but everything you could want in a defensive line is found in this combination. Now, whether they can gel together immediately or not is another question, but the foundation is there to do something, and that’s a rarity in the modern defensive landscape at the Emirates.