I am Arsenal Till I Die I guess one positive with Holding potentially being in the team for Anfield is that we won't just be throwing him in cold - and he actually played very well against Palace. Obviously, I realise Anfield will be an entirely different kind of test.

      RocktheCasbah Has holding ever fared well at Anfield? Just curious. He's good in a deep block but that's about it. And going there just to defend never ends well anyway.

      Thinking if we should blood Kiwior against Leeds... although he had 2 poor games in the international break

          We as a team in general don't usually fare well at Anfield. We're a different team now, as are they.

          Clrnc Thinking if we should blood Kiwior against Leeds... although he had 2 poor games in the international break

          Their form has argued in Holding's favour, not against.

            It's been about 14 days since he walked off. Even if they assess and stress test him next Thursday and it looks like he's ok, he should be able to squeeze in a few conditioning/training sessions and be ready for Sunday 9th. At least thats what I am hoping. He's absolutely not critical for this Saturday.

            This is the guy who always gets the first 11 right. Got a lot of injuries news right as well. We have to hold on very tight for the rest of the season, cuz we ain't making it without him

            Play him every other game, just as long as he’s available for Liverpool and City.

            I trust Holding for most games but don’t want him going in for those head to head battles against Pool and City. Not with a high line.

              goon at the same time, do you want him going into games worried about overextending himself and playing with fear? That doesn't even take into account the fact we might be risking making the situation worse for a player right at the start of his career.

                This is going to be a tricky one to deal with... Back injuries are really hard to manage.

                Need to find a solution if he is out for the season.. Wondering if Zinchenko can play right and Ben move to the middle, with KT at LB.

                  I think I'd rather play Tierney at CB if it comes to that (we all know it'll be Holding in). We basically play 3 at the back in possession so that'd be Tierney-Gabriel-White with the usual Zinchenko/Partey pairing ahead of them.

                  Tierney isn’t great progressing the ball though, probably the worst out of him, Holding and Kiwior.

                  Keep it simple imo, trust who you have with minimal disruption to the rest of the team.

                  I'd back Holding for about 5 of the 10 games.

                  The rest I'd be worried about him costing us.

                  But not much we can do, Arteta will stick with him so just have to hope he plays himself into good form and doesn't cost us like last season.

                  I back Holding. Seems a well respected leader in the group, and also not to forget he's been at CB for 2 FA Cup final wins too. Proper defender who is generally dependable and I feel has been a bit underrated for the most part. He's not as good as the starting pair but that's why he's the backup. The Spurs game last season was obviously a disaster which has clouded opinions of him a bit. It was probably mitigated a bit by having Cedric on his right so he felt he had no choice but to go up against Son. He had a great game against Palace and I'd have no concerns with him for the next game. His pace against Salah or Haaland would be a concern but one game at a time. Him slotting into his natural position also causes the least disruption to the team compared to some of the other suggestions which involve shifting multiple players out of their usual positions.

                  If Holding's performance against Palace is any guide, we can trust him to move the ball around securely and with confidence, go hard with good technique in his duels, play with an understanding alongside Gabriel and White, and read what's occurring in a match.

                  Holding's one outstanding weakness (and it's big) is his foot speed. He is going to be far slower on recovery than most forwards. He's going to be dropped over five yards around the area sometimes. But he can't do anything about it and can't be blamed for it.

                  One thing that's reassuring: you know Arteta will make appropriate tactical adjustments—for example to Zinchenko, or White's roles—to compensate for Holding's slowness.

                  As for Saliba's injury, I had a hunch it'd be a bit of a problem as soon as his back was mentioned. If you've got an inflamed or bulging disc, and you've got a protective muscle spasm happening, there's not many treatments beyond rest, and stretching and lengthening the affected muscle groups. It all takes time. Saliba might be able to play with analgesia and muscle relaxants, but if he experiences a real spasm, he'll be incapacitated. And if it's anything worse than that …

                  You'd expect Saliba to be a bit of a roll of the dice for the remainder of the season. He's a big, strong lad who's been getting stronger year by year. I assume they'll have him absolutely thrashing his core in the summer, which you can hope will help stop recurrences.

                  Holding definitely isn't completely incapable and his ability on the ball is underrated because of his ungainly technique I think. None of this detracts from the fact Saliba is a big loss but it's not like we're airlifting Gavin Hoyte into defence.

                  In my mind, it does however make us more reliant on Partey as Holding + Jorginho feels a little immobile. So there are broader concerns in terms of our squad depth here.

                  Seen lots of suggestions on Twitter that we should move Partey to RB and White central. Sounds very OTT to me just because Partey played a few minutes there to rest White.

                  If AMN was here, would we play him or Holding?

                  Arteta doesn't tend to make changes like that without provocation. He seems to understand that unless your decision has an obvious basis in form, you might as well just shout "You're shit" at Rob Holding in training. Especially if you're going to do something desperate and disruptive like drag Partey out of his specialist position.

                  And Holding performed above expectations against Palace, so it'd be extra vexatious.