Arsenal: Hector Bellerin proving that real solution is needed

Arsenal were a different club with Hector Bellerin out on the pitch for those 70 minutes, and it’s just a reminder that a real solution is needed.

Hector Bellerin‘s absence for the last couple months was enough to remind fans how important he is to this club. Even if we get critical of him at times, he is far superior to any other option that Arsenal have at their disposal.

Which was even further reinforced against Chelsea. For 70 whole minutes, he did a Kolasinac with the right-hand side and owned it, standing strong against the combined attack of Alonso and Willian. He was a game changer, and his assist, while initially criticized as a poor cross, ended up right where it needed to be.

And then he got hurt. Just 70 minutes into his first start, a non-contact injury left him screaming on the ground and he had to be stretched off. Unai Emery has since indicated that the injury is “not positive,” but we pretty much knew that already. It looked bad.

Having Bellerin out as long as we already did made it clear that there is no real plan in place in his absence. Ainsley Maitland-Niles is not a plan. He’s a midfielder and he defends like one – adequate at times, poor at other times.

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Stephan Lichtsteiner has his uses too, but given his advanced age, he has become more of a right-sided centerback. His lacking pace doesn’t allow him to flex the same attacking and defending combo like we get out of Bellerin.

Even if you look on the left-hand side, if Kolasinac or Monreal gets hurt, it’s realistic to think that the other can fill in. They have different strengths, obviously, but hey, no two players are the same, right?

At rightback though, it’s clear that a real solution is needed. Lichtsteiner seemed like a real solution at the time, but he’s not a long-term solution.

I hate to have to think like this, but an investment has to be made into rightback for the long haul to prevent the drop-off in quality when Bellerin is and isn’t on the pitch. That’s the goal right? To have enough depth that no single injury causes such an obvious change in the quality of the side?

Heck, having Bellerin back gave me more confidence in the back four. We may have to veer more towards the back three again to allow Maitland-Niles to be more comfortable with his new, likely long-term charge.