Ben White is a brilliant option for Arsenal at right-back

Arsenal wrapped up their pre-season tour with a bang, beating London rivals Chelsea 4-0 in Orlando.

Fans were treated to 90 minutes of Gabriel and Saliba paired up in the centre of defence. The duo have already developed a fine understanding as they nullified a Chelsea attack containing the likes of Kai Havertz and Raheem Sterling.

As a result of the two playing the entire match, Ben White was once again deployed at right-back. I believe this could be a glimpse into what we could see from Arsenal’s defence this season.

Ben White is a brilliant option to provide cover at right-back

Last month I wrote about how Arsenal could have a lot of positional variety across their front line, and we could see something similar in defence. With many of the players at Arteta’s disposal able to play in a few different roles, the puzzle of Arsenal’s defence could be very different depending on the situation.

With Takehiro Tomiyasu’s injury woes dragging long into the summer, Ben White could be the right fit to cover for the Japanese defender. We saw White as a full-back a few times last season with Tomiyasu unfit to play and the Englishman did an admirable job of covering with Holding typically fitting into the RCB role.

With the emergence of Saliba, Arteta likely feels way more comfortable slotting White out wide.

White’s profile is much closer to Tomiyasu than Cedric’s. White can tuck into the midfield in build-up or even create a back three. This makes a lot of variability with the 2-3 or 3-2 build-up shape. White slotting into a back three in the buildup can allow for the left back to get higher up the pitch to cause some issues for opposition defences.

White’s ability on the ball will be even more helpful at RB than CB; he’ll have more space to run into and more defensive cover should he lose the ball. White’s versatility will allow for freedom in the transfer market as well. With him being a dependable option for the role, there is no need to potentially buy a player that could block Brooke Norton-Cuffy’s path to the first team.