Arsenal: The telling Rob Holding development

Rob Holding took on the captain’s armband upon his return to the Arsenal XI in Tuesday’s victory over Nottingham Forest. It is a telling development amid Unai Emery’s delay to name his club captain.

Tuesday night could not have gone much better for Rob Holding. Making his first appearance after a gruelling rehabilitation from an ACL tear suffered in early December last year, the Arsenal centre-half was named vice-captain of the team, anchored a clean-sheet performance, and then scored the second goal with a thumping header, sending the Emirates into raptures.

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After the 5-0 victory over Nottingham Forest, Holding spoke of his joy at returning to the football pitch, as well as his pride at being named vice-captain, eventually taking the armband after Mesut Ozil was substituted in the second half:

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"“It’s been a long process and there’s been lot of long days in the gym with me and Hector, but I couldn’t have written it any better myself to make that comeback. The way it panned out was just brilliant. When I got told I was vice captain I was over the moon, so when Mesut came off and passed the armband over I was so happy. Then it went perfectly again, Reiss put a great ball in and I managed to get my head on it.”"

While the goal was a wonderful moment and his performance was extremely encouraging, although it came against lesser opposition who rarely troubled the Arsenal goal, perhaps the most telling development from Holding’s season debut was the fact that he was handed the captain’s armband in Ozil’s absence.

Like last year, Unai Emery wants five captains. He wants a range of leadership styles within this group, as well as some British representation. Holding is the leading candidate to be the British player in these five captains. But Emery has been extremely cautious in unveiling the identity of these captains.

Not only has he not publicly stated who they are; the apparent club captain at present, Granit Xhaka, has not actually been named the club captain, has not been given the responsibility of writing the ‘captain’s notes’ in the home matchday programs, and might not have the most secure starting spot in the team.

There is a fairly clear line of thinking here, then: Emery has delayed his captain announcement because he wants Holding to be a key part of his leadership group, and he wants Holding to be fit and available before he makes the announcement. Following this logic, it is not unreasonable to doubt both Xhaka’s leadership standing and his place in the team, while also feeling encouraged for Holding’s prospects as a key player this season.

We will see how the captain fiasco plays out. Emery has certainly not handled it especially well thus far. But based on what happened on Tuesday night, Holding will have a key part to play.