Arsenal: Has Sokratis been demoted, or is it just me?

Arsenal’s defense is a point of serious concern, and that concern continued against Vitoria. But has Unai Emery stated his intent going forward?

Arsenal‘s defensive set-up against Vitoria probably gave more than a couple fans heart palpitations. Back threes never work with this club. Our defenders are not good enough, so putting more of them out there does not translate to a better chance of success.

That said, just seeing Sokratis as the centermost pillar of a back three that yet again gave up a late equalizer to forfeit the full three points made me smile in the slightest, because in my heart I want to believe that Unai Emery has made a statement of intent.

All season long I’ve been asking when Sokratis would be demoted. For either Rob Holding, Calum Chambers or someone, I don’t care. We just need defensive help and the Sokratis/David Luiz pairing isn’t working.

So to see Sokratis out there midweek made me think that maybe… just maybe… we wouldn’t see him at the weekend.

I have other cause to believe this as well.

More from Pain in the Arsenal

• 3 standout players from 1-0 victory over Everton
• 3 positives & negatives from Goodison Park victory
• Arsenal vs PSV preview: Prediction, team news & lineups
• 3 talking points from Arsenal’s victory at Goodison Park
• Mikel Arteta provides Gabriel Martinelli injury update after Everton win

You also might have noticed that Hector Bellerin was not starting. He didn’t play at all. Instead, Ainsley Maitland-Niles got the start at wingback and meanwhile, Calum Chambers was nowhere to be seen.

Which got me thinking—if you are going to include Sokratis and not include Chambers or Bellerin, then the logical explanation is that Bellerin is going to be moving into the Premier League starting XI, which would necessitate moving Chambers out of right back. That alone would make me livid, because Chambers deserves to be starting, but with Sokratis moved to midweek fixtures, Chambers may be sliding from rightback to centerback, where he belongs.

Meaning that at the weekend we may see a delectable back line of Hector Bellerin-Calum Chambers-David Luiz-Kieran Tierney. Which is almost exactly what I’ve been asking for all damn year and at long last, we may finally be getting it. It only took how many forfeited leads to get here?

Now, of course, this is all dependent on Unai Emery being a logical, straightforward-thinking manager, which I think he has proven not to be. But it would make complete sense for him, in his desperation, to start making moves, and demoting Sokratis is a tame move to make, though a necessary one.

All we can do now is wait to see what happens this weekend.