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.

goon Problem is I think Saliba is the type who needs to be playing every week. We saw after the world cup it took him a few games to find his rhythm again.

By the time the Liverpool games he would have been out for 3.5 weeks, hopefully will be in a better state to play but the current reports are concerning. Just our luck Tomi is out for the season as well or we could have put White as our CB or used Tomi as our CB.

      JazzG Problem is I think Saliba is the type who needs to be playing every week. We saw after the world cup it took him a few games to find his rhythm again.

      True, but the alternative is Holding...

      I wonder if Kiwior is an option with Gabriel somehow. I know he wasn't particularly good on his debut but he's at least got a bit of pace.

          Would've been ace if we managed to land Fresneda.. But Tomi and Saliba going down in the same match wasn't exactly expected.

          Tomiyasu being injured for half the season was highly predictable, bless him.

          I'm not sure a perceived defensive frailty will only work against us. We've been such a well-organised team that without some sense of weakness, many opposition sides haven't ventured out or stretched themselves against us.

          goon I wonder if Kiwior is an option with Gabriel somehow.

          Having seen the way Arteta usually manages the XI, I don't think this will happen unless Holding is blatantly exposed or punished in a match.

              We should be fine with Holding at CB for most of the games.

              City, Liverpool, Newcastle, and Chelsea are the ones where we will absolutely need Saliba. So if we can manage him and get him to play some of the games, it would be ideal.

              Burnwinter was Tomi injured for half the season though? Seems like he was mostly fit this season, only injury was right before WC and then that unfortunate slip.

                  He did miss a chunk last year but he has been in the squad for 23 out of 28 matches we've played this season.

                  Kel Varnsen One of the best things Artetas done is move Xhaka further forward to mitigate his brain farts. He's also no where close to the defender Holding is.

                  The solution is there and its obvious. Play Holding.

                    Clrnc — my sense is he hasn’t been match fit though. As in, good enough to make the bench but not fully fit for 90mins.

                      Clrnc was Tomi injured for half the season though?

                      True, he was only injured more than half the time we wanted to select him. 🙃

                      C'mon man, Tomiyasu's a good player but he's brittle as fuck. Durability is a huge issue for him. People will often talk about White showing signs of fatigue or his form taking a dip, but at least his body doesn't regularly break in half like an old ship's biscuit.

                      Saliba's started nearly every match this season, but the one time Willy gets injured we can't bring White back to his familar role at right centre half because Tomiyasu has also broken down. The upshot is that Tomiyasu's fitness issues affect the side, much as they did when they resulted in Cedric having to take the field for us.

                        I think if Tomi was fit Arteta would still playing White RB. He is always talking about not making changes to more than one thing at a time. He's happy with White at RB and I reckon he'd either player Holding or Tomi at CB.

                          One thing that is predictable about Arteta is he will keep his main players in their positions. So we aren’t going to adjust Partey etc to different positions. The problem with moving Partey is given how well oiled this team is, that would affect 3 or 4 other players who depend on Partey’s passes and link up.

                          So we will persist with Holding or so if we can fit Kiwior in. Can’t see another solution.

                          Qwiss

                          True, this might be the case. It's a moot point.

                          Good for Rob Holding if he has this big chance to shine. Our next ten matches will be the peak of his career if we win the title with him as a regular.

                            I reckon it’s Holding or Kiwior.
                            White has a good thing going with Odegaard and Saka. Let’s not disturb that.