Arsenal: Hector Bellerin requires Unai Emery’s second toughest decision

Arsenal are coming back with a full swath of healthy players, but in order for Hector Bellerin to be included, Unai Emery has to make a hard decision… again.

No one said being a manager was supposed to be easy, but one thing Unai Emery has done to make it easier on us fans is making the tough decisions. Arsenal aren’t used to someone of that nature. Arsene Wenger did well to navigate tough decision areas, usually by keeping a thin squad where such decisions weren’t needed.

But with the depth that Emery now has with his version of the club, it was inevitable. He was going to have to do some things that some saw as unpopular.

It started with Mesut Ozil—a very tough decision, and one that he keeps having to make. Though since he’s made it this far, he might be finding it easier to make, since the hard part is already over.

There are two hard decisions yet to make, though, both of which will put Unai Emery between a rock and a hard place.

The first is choosing between Bukayo Saka and Nicolas Pepe. With Alexandre Lacazette back, the time is night. The right decision is to go with Saka, but we will see how Emery handles the situation.

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The second is sitting David Luiz for Calum Chambers so Hector Bellerin can return to our starting rightback.

Chambers has thrived wherever he’s been asked to play, which right now involves playing rightback in the wake of Ainsley Maitland-Niles benching and Bellerin’s return to injury. But there is a convenient way around this that involves a back line of young, talented, versatile defenders, and it looks like… Bellerin-Chambers-Holding-Tierney.

What makes this decision even more difficult is that Chambers has already been unfairly benched once. If you do it again, you lose him. I have to believe that Chambers can only take such levels of injustice once. And that’s all he should take, as a professional of his caliber.

It wouldn’t be popular with Luiz, most of all. Which would be the hardest part of making the decision. But Emery can’t be afraid to disappoint players just because they boast a high level of experience or personal connection. Remember, that’s what makes him so useful as a manager—he can make these tough decisions.

Regardless, it has to be made. And the sooner he can pull that tooth, the better.