Arsenal: You done Calum Chambers wrong

Arsenal changed up their defense. They sat Calum Chambers in favor of David Lui. And quite frankly, I’m not okay with it. And neither should you be.

Arsenal kept their first clean sheet away from home in over a year when they beat Newcastle 1-0 at St. Mary’s. It was through a team effort, with everyone pulling their weight, and it was with a bunch of familiar faces. Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Sokratis, Calum Chambers and Nacho Monreal.

For my part, I found Chambers to be the most impressive. Mainly because I was already so high on his ability that my expectations were fairly lofty, and he met them. He was cool, calm and collected, intelligent in his decision making; physically strong in duels; and he didn’t stand for any nonsense.

It was a culmination of his evolution at the Emirates, and his incredibly successful loan spells. All of which built a 24-year-old English defender that we can count on, without a doubt.

In steps Burnley for our home opener and you’d think that nothing would change for the defense. But something did change.

Calum Chambers. The standout defender from the opener. Chambers made way for new signing David Luiz, who Chambers had just spoken about before the match as a good thing. It’s good to have competition for places, he said.

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And, of course, we all agree. But the thing is, in order for that to work, you have to stand up to the principles of the competition. Chambers was the best defender, that means he can’t be the one who gets benched. Not by a long shot.

To make matters worse, while the defense largely held up to the pressure, with their fair share of struggles, the biggest lapse was when David Luiz lost track of Ashley Barnes, which led to the Burnley equalizer.

We know why David Luiz is here. This is part of the drawback. He’s liable to make some mistakes like this and I’m by no means hitting the panic button or anything like that.

But I am still asking the question of why Chambers was moved out of the starting XI in the first place. Maybe it wouldn’t have made a difference on that play, but the point is, regardless of what happened, Chambers deserved better.

The worst part is, I’d wager that Emery will stick with Luiz despite the mistake, and Chambers will be left wondering what else he could have done.