Patched-up Arsenal mired in ‘unimaginable’ defensive crisis

Mikel Arteta’s injury-ravaged rearguard was all too easily exposed by Liverpool and looks woefully ill-equipped for title battle

In one of the biggest matches of their season, Arsenal finished the game with a back four that consisted of arguably their fourth-choice right-back, second-choice right centre-back, third-choice left centre-back and probably their fifth-choice left-back.
“The situation we are going through at the moment – probably you cannot imagine,” said Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta. 
It is a quite extraordinary set of circumstances, and it was perhaps no surprise that Arteta’s makeshift defence was unable to shut out Liverpool’s collection of elite forwards in the second half of this 2-2 draw in north London.
At the time of Mohamed Salah’s equalising goal, Arsenal’s back four was made up of Thomas Partey (a midfielder), Ben White (usually their right-back), Jakub Kiwior (their fringe option for emergencies) and Myles Lewis-Skelly (an 18-year-old).
It was Kiwior who made the decisive error, as his strange movement away from the ball allowed Liverpool forward Darwin Nunez to sprint in behind. Lewis-Skelly appeared to spot the danger before Kiwior, with the teenager pointing at the space the ball would be passed into by Trent Alexander-Arnold. Kiwior, a Poland international, was not so alert as Nunez squared for Salah to score.
Would Liverpool have scored if Gabriel Magalhaes, Arsenal’s defensive leader, was occupying that exact spot on the left side of the pitch? It certainly would have been more difficult for Arne Slot’s team.
How strange it is now to think back to the summer transfer window and the reaction of many Arsenal fans to the club’s decision to spend around £40 million on a new defender, Riccardo Calafiori. Some fans have accused Arteta of being obsessed with buying new defensive players, when they would much rather see a shiny striker or winger.
Now, just a few months later, Arsenal are in a situation where they must wish they had even more defenders at their disposal. Jurrien Timber and Gabriel both limped out of this game, joining Calafiori, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Kieran Tierney in the treatment room. Central defender William Saliba, meanwhile, was suspended after his red card against Bournemouth.
Arteta chose against complaining about the situation, although there can be no doubt about the extent of his private frustration. “It is what it is,” he said after this draw. “We had five injuries in the back line. We have to adapt to it and we will continue to adapt. It’s the situation that we have.”
Other clubs also have injuries, of course. Manchester United, for example, will not exactly be feeling too sorry for Arsenal. Neither will Rodri at Manchester City. It is a reality of football, though, that these twists of fate and fortune can prove decisive over the course of a league campaign.
Arsenal know this all too well: in the 2022-23 season, the loss of Saliba to injury derailed their title bid. Arteta can only hope this current defensive crisis is not quite so severe, and that his team is far more capable of handling the sudden destruction of their defensive plans.