Cristhian Mosquera quietly took on an Arsenal role to lend Mikel Arteta a favour

This week has been quite the rollercoaster of emotions for Arsenal supporters but, the bottom line is, they remain top of the Premier League table. In mid-week, it felt as though the whole world was caving in when Mikel Arteta's team threw away a 2-0 lead to only draw at Molineux with bottom of the table Wolves.

Nevertheless, the Gunners very much responded on Sunday, demolishing fierce rivals Tottenham 4-1 for the second time in four months, thereby claiming their biggest victory at White Hart Lane since 1978. Eberechi Eze once again did damage against the team he turned down, bagging a double after his hat-trick in November, while Viktor Gyökeres also scored twice in N17.

So, with ten Premier League matches remaining, Arsenal remain five points clear of Manchester City, albeit having played a game more. Arteta's team now have an entire week without a fixtures before facing Chelsea on 1 March, a crucial month that contains three Premier League matches, both legs of the Champions League round of 16 tie and crescendos with the EFL Cup Final, where Pep Guardiola's team awaits at Wembley.

If the Gunners are going to achieve their objectives across multiple competitions, Arteta is going to need everyone to contribute, with one under-the-radar squad player in particular staking a case for more regular inclusion at Spurs.

Has Cristhian Mosquera found a new role?

Cristhian Mosquera joined Arsenal from Valencia in July for a reported fee of £13 million, which could prove to be one of the biggest bargains in the club's recent history. Despite being 21 years old, he had made 90 appearances for los Murciélagos, starting 74 La Liga games, as well as winning Olympic Gold with Spain in Paris in the summer of 2024.

Well, despite his enormous potential, given how reliable the centre-back partnership of William Saliba and Gabriel is, Mosquera was always going to find regular minutes hard to come by in North London.

Cristhian Mosquera appearance statistics at Arsenal

Despite seeing over 1,200 minutes of action, Mosquera has started only 12 times across all competitions, the only time he's been included in a Premier League XI since early-December coming at Brentford recently when Saliba was ill. However, could he be used in another role?

On Sunday, the Spaniard came on just before the hour mark at right-back. This came about after Jurriën Timber had been booked during the first half for an obvious foul, while Ben White was not able to be among the substitutes after suffering a knock in training.

Timber has been fabulous for the majority of the season, but has looked knackered in recent weeks, especially during the second half at Wolves in mid-week. White, meanwhile, cannot be relied upon to stay fit for a prolonged period of time, underlined by the fact that he has started only twice in the league since the opening day. Assuming he isn't required in the middle, could Mosquera see more action at right-back?

Sunday was not the first time Mosquera has been asked to do a job at full-back, often within a game, despite rarely playing there for Valencia or Spain's youth teams. However, he has taken to the role like a duck to water, so he has to be considered a bona fide genuine option for that spot.