Shkodran Mustafi’s reintroduction to Premier League football was one of two changes Arsene Wenger made for Saturday’s game at Stoke City.
The World Cup winner replaced Rob Holding in an unorthodox back three alongside Nacho Monreal and Sead Kolasinac, as we slipped to a 1-0 defeat at Bet365 Stadium.
Our defence came under criticism after the match, but Wenger says the trio should not be singled out for our performance.
“We conceded three last week so I changed a bit because Mustafi came back and Holding had lost a little bit of confidence,” he said.
“In pre-season, centrally, we did quite well.