Mikel Arteta will be forced to rejig his Arsenal backline for his side’s trip to Liverpool at the weekend following William Saliba’s ban.
The France international was shown a straight red card, following VAR intervention, during the Gunners’ 2-0 defeat to Bournemouth on Saturday after being adjudged to have denied a goal-scoring opportunity by bringing Evanilson down as he looked to race onto a loose pass from Leandro Trossard.
Saliba has been the rock at the heart of Arsenal’s defence for the past few seasons, and his absence against Liverpool is sure to be felt.
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Arteta will be hoping that one of his other defenders can step up in his absence though, with Ben White previously being deployed as a centre-back early in his Arsenal career.
The England international spent a season alongside Gabriel and, despite Riccardo Calafiori, Jakub Kiwior and Jurrien Timber being capable of filling the role too, he looks the likeliest candidate to fill the void left by Saliba.
However, despite White being comfortable centrally and already having the foundations of a partnership with Gabriel, the prospect of shifting the ex-Brighton star out of right-back does have a significant downside.
Arsenal were torn apart when they headed to Liverpool with a centre-back partnership of White and Gabriel in 2021 during their Premier League clash. The Reds ran out 4-0 victors on Merseyside, with Sadio Mane opening the scoring in the first half before goals from Diogo Jota, Mohamed Salah and Takumi Minamino put the game to bed.
The partnership struggled with the free-flowing nature of Liverpool’s attack, being dragged into uncomfortable areas by the movement of Jota which opened up heaps of space for Jurgen Klopp’s wingers to drive into.
The Gunners have since improved defensively, with their shift to playing a back-four formed of natural centre-backs aiding their cause, but Arteta will certainly be mindful of how his side fared on a torrid evening at Liverpool three years ago.
White hasn’t forgotten about how Jota caused Arsenal heaps of problems that evening, recently naming the playmaker as one of his trickiest opponents when speaking to Sky Sports. He said: “Jota, really good. When you play against him, you don’t realise how quick he is, strong, he’s obviously technically really, really good.”
The defender will have learned plenty from that drubbing at the hands of Liverpool, and he will be keen to right the wrongs of that performance alongside Gabriel if deployed at centre-back by his manager.
