Arsenal vs Watford: Hello Shkodran Mustafi, my old friend

Arsenal have no choice but to start Shkodran Mustaf against Watford, but after Everton, is it even worth being optimistic, or is this all about damage limitation?

Here we are again, in the exact situation we were in before the Everton match. Laurent Koscielny was out, and the Arsenal defense was looking like it was in a desperate situation, with only Sokratis to hold the back line down, flanked by the ever questionable Shkodran Mustafi and the unremarkable Nacho Monreal.

I made the point after the game that Mustafi has to be on the verge for another one of his token superb outings that pop up just when you start to think that he has no redeemable qualities, but alas, he didn’t get the chance against Napoli.

Now it’s big, bad Watford, with Troy Deeney, Mr. Cajones himself, and whatever I said about Mustafi before I am literally begging to come true this time.

While it was Koscielny that was out due to injury against Everton, it will be Sokratis that is out due to suspension against Watford, meaning that there’s no way around starting Shkodran Mustafi in all of his splendor.

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We saw against Napoli what happens when Mustafi isn’t in the starting XI, and it was pretty conclusive. Koscielny and Sokratis cleaned house and Monreal did his part as well.

But here we are, all gathered around, looking at Mustafi like “he can’t be that bad, can he?”

And that’s what we’re here to find out. I’d say the majority of fans have already written him off as worthless, and are ready to see him sold in the summer for whatever price the team can fetch for him. I’m not going to try to convince them otherwise. There’s no point.

What I will do, though, is remind people that Mustafi is an immensely talented defender who I have said this about countless times and on the rare occasion that he proves me right, I flirt with the potential of seeing him given another chance. I’m not sure I’m ready to go back to that length, but I am still willing to admit that there is always that chance that we hit the jackpot with Mustafi.

Frankly, he seems to do better when asked to pocket an opposing striker, so send him out there and tell him that his only job is to deny Troy Deeney. Then again, that’s hard to do in a back three. Well, it’ll certainly be interesting