They laughed at Mikel Arteta as he was hoarding every hybrid full back center back he could find across Europe. Well, his supporters are not laughing now...
Why would they be when Arsenal head into a clash with Premier League leaders Liverpool potentially missing as many as five senior defenders who might be used to quell the threat of Mohamed Salah and Darwin Nunez? Riccardo Calafiori limping out of the Champions League win over Shakhtar Donetsk was the latest blow for the Gunners ahead of Sunday's game at the Emirates Stadium, one for which William Saliba will be suspended after his straight red card in defeat to Bournemouth.
The injury list continues from there on. Kieran Tierney would surely not have come into contention even if he were fully fit but could have been a valuable option on the bench had he not been sidelined for the entirety of this season. Takehiro Tomiyasu, who so effectively quelled Salah two years ago, suffered a setback soon after making his return from a knee injury. Jurrien Timber's availability seems to be in the balance, the Dutch international in good spirits after Tuesday's win but yet to feature since the international break. All that before getting to the case of Bukayo Saka, rated by his manager as "unlikely" to recover in time for Sunday.
Arteta should provide a further update on Friday in his pre-match press conference, but don't expect too much. When it comes to medical scrutability, this guy gives Doctors Fishman and Spaceman a run for his money. He will want Arne Slot to be speculating about how Arsenal might line up just as much as this article is.
Who lines up next to Gabriel?
Perhaps the only specific spot that can be guaranteed in Arsenal's back four come Sunday will be Gabriel. The Brazilian will surely be on the left of the center back pairing, empowered to drive up field and send Darwin Nunez with him. Gabriel's set piece prowess is no longer unremarked upon, but celebrations of his aerial dominance in one box tend to obscure how effective he is in stopping the opposition getting to the other. He is supremely effective in the left half space channel between the halfway line and the penalty area, refusing to let strikers turn and go at him. When they do, he still has the burst to keep up. Add in his burgeoning qualities higher up the pitch -- Manuel Akanji and Ruben Dias are the only Premier League center backs with more open play touches in the final third this season -- and you have a supremely valuable center back.
As for his partner, on paper the answer seems straightforward. Gabriel and Ben White spent most of the 2021-22 season holding down the fort and after a shaky start they did so quite effectively. In the 31 league games the two started that year, Arsenal gave up 33 goals and 36.1 xG, hardly Saliba and Gabriel numbers, but then these were the first flushes of a great team. White has attributes that pair nicely with the Brazilian and you could certainly envisage him performing a sweeping role akin to Saliba.
However, would this shift merely create headaches for Arteta elsewhere? Without Tomiyasu, who starts at right back? Perhaps the most straightforward solution would be plugging Timber into the mix. The Dutch international, yet to lose a game he has featured in for Arsenal, was signed for his versatility and spent parts of preseason at center back, notably taking the Saliba role before the man himself was done with his post-Euros vacation. In an impressive showing against Manchester United he even had a few of those sweeping up moments that are so vital for a player who becomes the central man in a back three in possession, a role that also demands a great deal in possession (since the start of last season only Oleksandr Zinchenko and Jorginho average more touches per 90 than Saliba). The Ajax academy graduate would have no trouble with that aspect of the job.
At 6 foot, Timber is not quite as undersized as one might imagine when he is stacked up next to his fellow Arsenal defenders. He probably ticks the most boxes of anyone to step in alongside Gabriel. Arteta just needs him to be fit.
What about full backs?
One might suggest it is curious that Jakub Kiwior, an actual center back by trade, has not entered the discussion. If you were to do so, it would be reasonable to assume you had not seen Bournemouth 2, Arsenal 0. That was a trying day for Kiwior, hurled into the fray on the right side of the center back pairing and asked to figure it out on the fly. When the Polish international, still only 24, is in rhythm he has proven himself to be a valuable piece for Arsenal. He tends not to find new roles so easy when thrust out of his comfort zone, as was apparent when Arteta asked him to be a left back that inverts into midfield in late 2023. Arteta said of Kiwior in March: "You can't ask players to do things that they don't feel especially capable of doing in a natural way, so we have to tweak a few things to make sure players play to their strength."
In a more withdrawn left back role, one where his sole duty is to do what he can to quell Salah, Kiwior might work out. Ideally Arsenal might favor a fully fit Tomiyasu, whose two-footedness allows him to deal with a forward who can go inside or outside. It would be that or Calafiori, who has attacked with abandon every opportunity presented to himself since arriving at Arsenal. It was a bitter irony that one of his gangbusting runs through midfield ended with him landing so awkwardly as to trigger fears over his knee. All Arteta will be hoping is that the Italian's decision to exit moments after concluding he could run off his injury was precautionary.
"He felt something," said Arteta. "I don't know the extent of that so in that sense it's not great news."
Calafiori's absence would make it three senior full backs out and one doubtful. It is remarkable then, that Arsenal would still have options beyond Kiwior. Whether Arteta would seriously consider deploying Oleksandr Zinchenko, so memorably toasted by Salah in December, is debatable. The Ukraine international has not featured since August after picking up a calf issue and it felt notable that youngster Myles Lewis-Skelly entered the fray against Shakhtar on Tuesday (Arteta has proven he trusts the 18-year-old, but starting him Sunday would feel like an almighty gamble). If Arsenal truly believe they can boss possession and territory against Liverpool then perhaps there is a case for Zinchenko, but it would be a high wire act.
Across the field, if Timber is fit then it is him or White at right back. Without him, it's almost certainly Thomas Partey. Last season's attempts to shoehorn him into the side as an inverting full back were unappealing to say the least, but Arteta put the Ghanaian back in that spot for the 4-2 win over Southampton, handing him a more orthodox role where he did not struggle quite as much. If needs must, this might be the best option available to Arteta. Declan Rice and Mikel Merino should be able to hold the fort in midfield, Kai Havertz and Leandro Trossard will have to lead a press that really limits passes to Luis Diaz: it might just hold.
Predicted XIs
Let us assume for now that Arteta is running his increasingly usual counter-ops with regards to team news, that Saka will be available and the main issue at hand will be the defense. There are options then, even in the headache-inducing scenario where Timber is unavailable. They might be enough to hold firm, particularly against a Liverpool side that seem to have ratcheted back the attacking intensity post-Jurgen Klopp. But how much more favorable might this game look if one of the game's best center backs weren't missing?
That is the great fear around Arsenal's spate of red cards, that the Gunners will look back at the end of this season and conclude that Trossard's wild pass and Saliba's desperate grab cost them six points, not just three.
Arsenal predicted XI with Timber: Raya; White, Timber, Gabriel, Kiwior; Partey, Rice; Saka, Havertz, Trossard, Martinelli
Arsenal predicted XI without Timber: Raya; Partey, White, Gabriel, Kiwior; Merino, Rice; Saka, Havertz, Trossard, Martinelli