Arsenal: Top 3 players who have defining year ahead of them

2. Rob Holding

It has been a frustrating 18 months for Rob Holding. After a down second season in which questions began to rise surrounding his long-term prospects at the club, Unai Emery arrived in the 2018 summer and brought Holding into the starting XI with great effect. Holding was superb in the opening months of the 2018/18 season, impressing in a centre-back pair or back three. Then, catastrophe.

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After slipping on the astroturf of the Old Trafford pitch, it was announced that Holding had ruptured his ACL. He would miss the remainder of the season. Holding made his return earlier in the 2019/20 season while Emery was still at the helm. There was hope that he could squeeze his way back into the starting XI, perhaps even alongside fellow prospective centre-back Calum Chambers. That never happened.

Holding struggled to get and stay fit and has played just 86 minutes in the Premier League. He has made just one start since Arteta took over and has played more minutes with the under-23s in Premier League 2 than any other competition this season. It has been a disaster, though not necessarily Holding’s fault.

Holding will turn 25 in September. If he is to ever even make a dent in the Arsenal squad, never mind the starting XI, he has to prove it. And fast. He somehow has to get into the team, then impress in the chances that he is given, and, crucially, must then stay fit. Otherwise, Arteta will move on, if he hasn’t in his own mind already.