Arsenal: Calum Chambers deserves more than anyone else

Arsenal’s defense is shambles, and Calum Chambers has only been allowed to watch. No one deserves more on this team than he does. No one.

Nottingham Forest have us our first glimpse of the season of a lot of Arsenal‘s hope on defense. Rob Holding, Hector Bellerin and Kieran Tierney all made an appearance in some capacity, yet it was Calum Chambers who stole the show.

Chambers notched three assists with tremendous crossing ability from the rightback position. This coming mere days after he scored a crucial and massively skillful goal against Aston Villa to level the match.

A goal and three assists in two matches. That’s insane numbers from a forward, let alone a fullback that can’t even crack the starting XI.

Not just that, but across all competitions this year, Arsenal have managed just three clean sheets. All three have one thing in common—Calum Chambers started. Coincidence? No.

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This is just the cherry on the top of a cake full of Chambers’ over-deserved opportunity that he just can’t seem to get a bite of. Think about how much he’s done. He has had two tremendous loan spells, both with relegated teams, both with him serving a prominent role as a regular in a surprisingly resolute campaign.

For Boro, he anchored a defense that served as the sole bright spot of the team. For Fulham, he took home player of the season, and that was with time split between centerback and holding midfield.

In between the loans, Chambers was Arsene Wenger’s desperation choice to fix an awful defense alongside Dinos Mavropanos and he played the role to perfection, earning what I had thought would have been a starting role at the Emirates but, again, I was wrong.

Now, Chambers is showcasing fullback abilities that I didn’t think I’d be seeing. Proving that, despite everyone saying he would end up as a centerback, he has just as much growth at rightback and at defensive midfield.

For nearly half a decade, Chambers has been steadily improving at all three of his possible positions, yet he is still consistently overlooked for the starting XI, and I fear that Rob Holding may be the next in line to step in front of Chambers’ overdue opportunity.

No one on this team deserves a chance like Chambers does. No one. He has earned it five times over. He should be starting every match. I don’t care how you do it. He’s earned it.