Arsenal: Shkodran Mustafi does have good matches and he’s overdue

Arsenal will need to step up against Napoli at the Emirates, and they likely won’t have Laurent Koscielny to help. But Shkodran Mustafi is overdue, right?

This season has been nothing short of a nightmare for Shkodran Mustafi. His time at Arsenal has always been a bit tumultuous, but no matter how up and down it is, there is always the fact that . in order to be up and down, you have to have ups.

I have spent a lot of time defending Mustafi and his abilities, but this year, it’s been harder than ever, to the point that even I am admitting that it’s probably best to sell him. But that doesn’t mean that he has completely hit rock bottom. We’ve been here before, and usually, there is a big match right around the corner.

He’s had them before and, hopefully, he will have them again. He’s had matches where he has completely pocketed big-name strikers like Diego Costa, even Harry Kane, but he has yet to have a match like that this year.

I can’t think of a better time for him to have one than in the upcoming match against Napoli.

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Unai Emery has already expressed his doubts over Laurent Koscielny being ready to go, which would leave Sokratis in the middle of a familiar back three. But it’s the same back three that has held tight at home in previous weeks.

That said, this is Napoli, not Newcastle, and in order to hold tight against this foe, we’re going to need improvements over what this back three usually lives up to. And while I have full faith in Sokratis to do his part, and Nacho Monreal to be his steady self, Mustafi remains the one guy that is the question mark. But he hasn’t even been a question mark this year. He’s been pretty awful throughout.

It’s easy to forget that there is a really good defender in the German, waiting to break out. I don’t know (and apparently no one else does either) what makes him really click, but it seems like he has a higher probability of stepping up when he is really needed.

Maybe I’m crazy for being hopeful that Mustafi has it in him to surprise us all. In fact, I know I’m crazy. But it wouldn’t be a surprise if it wasn’t just a bit crazy, right? I think Mustafi is overdue for a clutch performance, and we’re running out of time.