Rob Holding played his first game in just under two months against Leeds and despite keeping a clean sheet, the 24-year-old's lack of match sharpness was apparent.
Still yet to fully recover from the ACL injury he sustained over a year ago at Old Trafford, Holding has struggled to find consistent game time since.
At the time of his injury, he was involved in 16 of Arsenal's 22 games unbeaten under Unai Emery but even though the Gunners seem to be gaining similar momentum, Holding isn't there just yet.
Playing the full 90 minutes vs Leeds, he was the most error prone Arsenal defender on the pitch. Although he is usually sound with the ball at his feet, when he tried to hurt Leeds, it usually backfired.
Stepping into midfield - as he has done routinely since joining Arsenal - his distribution was unusually unpredictable. In the first 10 minutes, he was caught out. Despite there being a terrible lack of movement ahead of him from Granit Xhaka and Matteo Guendouzi, he tried to slide the ball onto Xhaka’s back foot.
Leeds intercepted and hit Arsenal quickly but Holding redeemed himself with a timely block to Bamford’s shot.He repeated this error in the second half but Sead Kolasinac was on hand to drag Helder Costa back and prevent the incoming counter.
Struggling to make as big of an impact as he did when he returned earlier this season (stellar performances in the Carabao Cup and Europa League), Holding may find it tough to break into Mikel Arteta’s best team for the second half of the season.
Since the Spaniard has arrived, both Sokratis and David Luiz have excelled defensively and unless a new signing is brought in, have done very little to be dropped. Luiz in particular has looked like a new player in the four games under Arteta.
Actively looking to defend first, the Brazilian has been a much more demanding presence at the back. He has powered over strikers to win headers, left no doubts before putting his foot through the ball and left fans with nothing to do but applaud.
Of course, the key USP Luiz brought to Arsenal was his distribution which hasn’t been on show as much under Arteta. When he does step forward, however, he ensures that he has cover.
Two minutes after Holding’s initial error, the 32-year-old stepped into midfield with the ball at his feet. Not only did he make an accurate forward pass, but he made sure that Granit Xhaka had taken his place in the back four in case possession was lost.
An understanding like this takes games to develop of course, but how will Holding be able to create one?
With Arteta choosing Sokratis and Luiz as his centre-back pairing in two of his three Premier League games, it seems Holding will be constrained to cup appearances for the rest of the season.
This doesn’t have to be a negative, however, as it is in this role where he initially built consistency as an Arsenal player. Taken out of the Premier League starting XI three games into his debut season, the centre-back excelled in Arsenal’s end of season run which culminated in the 2017 FA Cup triumph against Chelsea.
Three years older and wanting to make a claim for a starting berth at Arsenal again, Holding may not want to take that path again but with the Europa League and FA Cup to fight for, it may be his best bet to get back into Arteta’s best side.
Rather than straining himself to make a Premier League return, this could give a chance to rebuild steadily and set his sights on returning for pre-season a better state than he currently finds himself in.
