Arsenal: 4 vital backup players for the rest of the season

The strength of this Arsenal team, as Mikel Arteta has said on numerous occasions, is the unity. This is a group all pushing in the same direction, willing to fight tooth and nail for one another.

Aided in their quest to finish in the Premier League top four by – albeit undesirably – not having any other competitions to focus on, the streamlined group have 16 matches to contest left of the season.

As far as a starting lineup goes, Arsenal are strong. The back five has kept 11 clean sheets in the 19 matches since Aaron Ramsdale came into the fold, Thomas Partey and Granit Xhaka are a solid double pivot and the attacking trio of Emile Smith Rowe, Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli are special young players.

Striker is what it is.

Arsenal: 4 vital backup players Mikel Arteta will have to call upon between now and the rest of the Premier League season

With so much between now and the end of the season resting on keeping that core in place – free of injury or yet more suspensions – those on the bench become important for different reasons.

That preferred lineup won’t be changed unless it has to. But even with just the solitary game per week there will be issues that force alterations (see: Martinelli) and then those in reserve will have to come in and share the responsibility, just as they would if they were to come off the bench.

Between now and May 22 the whole squad will get a chance to make their mark, with four in particular going to have vital roles to play during that time.

1. Rob Holding

One of the more interesting points to draw from the Wolves win was that from the 70th minute onwards Arsenal had 100% of their central defenders on the pitch.

That’s a bit mad, isn’t it?

Allowing Pablo Mari and Calum Chambers to leave in the January transfer window left Arteta with just three senior options for the position, and with Bernd Leno missing the Molineux clash having contracted Covid, it meant even young Zachariah Olumide Awe earned a spot on the bench.

The 18-year-old only recently earned involvement with the Under-23 side having started the season with the Under-18’s.

Rob Holding came on and put in an outstanding shift in the heart of the back five, and based on how 2022 has panned out there is little reason to expect he won’t be asked to perform another similar role at a later stage.

All it takes is a red card elsewhere or an injury or suspension to one of Benjamin White or Gabriel and he is straight into the team. Which side of the defence will depend on who is out, as when Gabriel isn’t around it’s Holding given the responsibility of being on the left of the two.

He may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but he’s going to play a key role this Premier League campaign – if he hadn’t already.

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