Arsenal Q&A: Where Calafiori and Zinchenko fit in Gunners' defence

Image source, Getty Images

We put your Arsenal questions to our chief football news reporter Simon Stone, who has watched the Gunners during their tour of the United States.

Will asked: How do you see our back line shaping up this season after the addition of Riccardo Calafiori? Who starts and how many at the back?

Simon replied: What a good question. Mikel Arteta certainly hasn't told me.

The central defensive combination of Gabriel and William Saliba was excellent last season. I know it sounds easy to shift that to a three-man defence but it is not completely straightforward. Jurrien Timber was earmarked for the inverted right-back role last season but got injured, so Ben White came in and he did a fabulous job.

I suspect Arteta does see left-back as the area where improvement can be made, either because of injury or inconsistency, and Calafiori did play there previously for Bologna.

Arteta will have a plan, that's for sure.

Rob asked: Some of the Arsenal fanbase are suggesting Oleksandr Zinchenko is no longer fitting the team properly. Have Arsenal outgrown him now? Can he tweak his skill set or find a new positional role in the team? Or do we sell if a good offer presents itself? We do appear to have a lot of options now on that left side.

Simon replied: I really like Zinchenko. I think he is a great personality to have around the team and has bags of ability. But sometimes I think he switches off in games and that leads to mistakes. That can be in possession or a defensive lapse or positional.

The demands at the top of the league are enormous. There was a reason why Zinchenko couldn't nail down a regular place at Manchester City. Given Arsenal paid £30m, I would be fascinated to see what the response would be is someone offered them that now.

What do you think Arsenal should do with their Ukraine full-back?