Arsenal have been dealt a couple of big injury blows ahead of their North London Derby clash against Tottenham Hotspur.
The Gunners were already without the likes of Viktor Gyokeres, Noni Madueke, Martin Odegaard and Gabriel Martinelli in their last game before the international break.
Now, Riccardo Calafiori has been sent back from international duty due to a hip injury. The issue is not deemed to be very serious, but it has kept him out of Italy’s two games. It’s unclear if he will be available for the Spurs clash.
The more serious issue is the injury to Gabriel Magalhaes. The Brazilian suffered an adductor problem against Senegal on Friday and is now a major doubt for the derby.
Mikel Arteta will have to change things now if the two defenders above are ruled out. We think using one player in a different position would be an effective solution – Jurrien Timber.
Mikel Arteta should change Jurrien Timber’s position for Arsenal vs Tottenham
If Gabriel Magalhaes and Riccardo Calafiori are both unavailable for the clash against Tottenham, Arsenal’s left side will become weaker.
The Gunners have obvious options to replace both players.
Piero Hincapie can play in the heart of the defence, while Myles Lewis-Skelly can slot in at left-back. Both players are more than capable of doing a good job there.
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However, we think Timber should be moved to left-back instead.
That’s because Tottenham’s biggest attacking threat is Mohammed Kudus, who is expected to start on the right wing in the North London Derby next weekend.
Lewis-Skelly is very good, but the teenager hasn’t played much in the Premier League this season. Starting him against the in-form Ghanaian could backfire.
Timber, on the other hand, is in the form of his life, and he won’t have any problems dealing with Kudus or any other winger in the world.
The Dutchman has played at left-back on plenty of occasions in the past and has done well. Ben White, who is now fit again, can slot in at right-back instead of Timber.
Mikel Arteta has had success playing a right-back at left-back
In an ideal world, we’re sure that Arteta wouldn’t want to play his players out of position, but that doesn’t mean it can’t work.
Back in the 2022/23 season, Arsenal faced Liverpool in the Premier League at home, and Oleksandr Zinchenko, who was the first-choice left-back then, was ruled out due to an injury.
Instead of picking Kieran Tierney, Arteta went with Takehiro Tomiyasu to play against Mohamed Salah, and the Japan international completely nullified the Liverpool superstar.
Kudus is nowhere near Salah’s level, while Timber is significantly better than Tomiyasu.
So, if the Dutchman plays as a left-back against Tottenham, we are convinced that he will deal with the Spurs winger without any trouble.