Arteta's Dilemma: Stopping Kvaratskhelia with Zubimendi

On the eve of a Champions League final, every decision feels bigger, heavier, permanent. Mikel Arteta has a handful of them to make before Arsenal face PSG, but one dominates everything else: how on earth do you stop Khvicha Kvaratskhelia?

A clue may have been hiding in plain sight.

On Thursday, UEFA dropped a short clip on X. At first glance, it was just a neat throwback: Spain’s 4-0 win away to Georgia in a World Cup qualifier last November. Look closer and it felt like a subtle nudge towards Saturday night in Europe’s showpiece.

Martin Zubimendi on the scoresheet. Martin Zubimendi sprinting down the flank. Martin Zubimendi dispossessing Kvaratskhelia in full flow.

A midfielder, yes. But also, perhaps, a solution.

Timber doubt leaves a gap

Arteta’s ideal world has Jurrien Timber fit, sharp and ready to be unleashed. Reality is less kind. Timber only returned to training this week and hasn’t played a minute since mid-March, when a groin injury against Everton halted his season.

Being medically cleared is one thing. Being ready to walk into a Champions League final against one of the most explosive wingers on the planet is something else entirely.

Throwing Timber straight into Kvaratskhelia’s path would be a gamble of the highest order. Arteta is bold, but he is not reckless. The fact Timber could not even make the squad at Crystal Palace last weekend underlines how fine the margins still are.

That uncertainty opens the door. Someone has to walk through it.

Mosquera or something more radical?

Cristhian Mosquera is the conventional answer. A centre-back by trade, he is pushing hard to start. He has pace, he reads the game well, and he offers aerial security on a night when small details could decide a European crown.

But he is not a natural full-back. Mobility in tight spaces, the constant one-v-one isolation against a dribbler like Kvaratskhelia, the repeated sprints into wide areas – these are different demands. Mosquera can run, but that doesn’t automatically make him the perfect fit on the flank.

Arteta knows this. Which is why last Sunday at Selhurst Park felt so revealing.

Zubimendi’s right-back audition

When the teams dropped at Crystal Palace, there was a jolt of surprise. Zubimendi, the metronome of Arsenal’s midfield for much of the season, was suddenly stationed at right-back.

It looked random. It probably wasn’t.

Arteta has long been a coach who enjoys bending the chalkboard. Inverting full-backs, hybrid roles, midfielders stepping into defence – nothing is off-limits if it gives him an edge. Using Zubimendi at right-back in a Premier League game, days before a final against a world-class winger, felt like more than an experiment. It felt like a live audition.

And that UEFA clip from Spain-Georgia only feeds the theory. Zubimendi has already shown he can read Kvaratskhelia’s game, time his tackles, and win duels in wide areas. He is not a specialist defender, but he is an intelligent one.

Arteta will have watched that sequence more than once.

A key man now on the fringes

There is another layer to this. Zubimendi has quietly slipped out of the starting XI in recent weeks. Myles Lewis-Skelly’s resurgence has changed the dynamic in midfield, his energy and drive earning him a place alongside Declan Rice in the heart of the team.

On form, there is every chance Lewis-Skelly keeps that central role against PSG. Rice is untouchable. That leaves Zubimendi on the outside, looking in, for the biggest match of Arsenal’s season.

Leaving him there will not sit easily with Arteta. The Spaniard has been decisive across the campaign, knitting play together, protecting the back line, giving Arsenal control in high-pressure games. To reduce him to a spectator on a night like this would be a brutal call.

So the manager searches for a way to use him. Right-back might just be that door.

The final call

As things stand, Mosquera still feels like the favourite to start if Timber fails to convince in the final training sessions. He is the more orthodox defensive pick, the safer choice on the teamsheet.

But the thought of Zubimendi at full-back will not leave Arteta alone. He has seen him do it in Spain colours. He has tested him there at Palace. He knows how much he trusts him in big moments.

If Timber doesn’t make it, do not be shocked if Arteta leans into his own instincts and throws Zubimendi into the fire on that flank.

In a final defined by details, the answer to Kvaratskhelia might just come from Arsenal’s midfield.