Arsenal: What should you expect from Rob Holding?

Rob Holding is set to return for Arsenal, potentially making his Premier League debut against Sheffield United on Monday night. But what should the expectations be for the young centre-half?

Arsenal need help at centre-half. Rinse and repeat that sentence for the past decade. But this season, perhaps more than most, the Gunners really need a centre-half. So good job they have one returning to the fold.

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Rob Holding is now ready for action. The young centre-half ruptured his ACL last December but slowly made his return to the first-team picture this season. Holding’s first start came in a 5-0 EFL Cup victory over Nottingham Forest, in which he scored, and he played another 90 minutes a week later against Standard Liege.

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After the international break, with another couple of weeks worth of first-team training, Holding is now ready to push for a Premier League place. He might even appear against Sheffield United on Monday night, Arsenal’s next league outing. But if he doesn’t, Unai Emery, who is very much an admirer of and believer in Holding’s abilities, will be keen to use him soon, despite the presence of the experienced duo, Sokratis and David Luiz.

So if and when Holding does return to the first XI in north London, what should actually be expected of him? After all, this is a 24-year-old defender who has never been a regular first-team player at the Premier League level, has played only ten league games under Unai Emery, and is coming off an ACL tear, a notoriously difficult injury that can rob players of their athleticism and explosion. Not only was he an unproven player before the injury; he might not be the same player now.

And yet, such are the deficiencies of Arsenal’s present defence, especially at centre-half, Holding has been tentatively — and not so tentatively by some of the more ambitious supporters — heralded as the Gunners’ saviour, the one to haul their backline out of the mire of the season’s discretions.

Perhaps these expectations, though, are a little ambitious. Holding might be talented, he might even have impressed under Emery, both last season and in his two appearances so far this season, despite the level of competition, but to think that he is ready to anchor a top-six Premier League defence might be a little hasty.

That is not to say that he is unable. He is. But can he actually produce at such a high level over the course of the season, despite having never done so in his career beforehand? It is a little ambitious to suggest he can, it seems.

Holding is a good player with a bright future. But no one really knows who he is at this point. And so, the expectations should be tempered.