£50m Arsenal star was becoming the new Holding, now he’s totally undroppable

A few weeks ago, it looked like Arsenal‘s season was unfolding before their very eyes.

The Gunners lost twice to Manchester City, once in the Carabao Cup final and then in the Premier League, as they lost precious ground on the title.

Well, football is a funny old sport, it can change in the blink of an eye. This has perhaps been the best week of Arsenal’s season. They dispatched Fulham 3-0 last weekend and after watching Man City drop points to Everton on Monday, came into their Champions League semi-final second leg clash against Atletico Madrid full of confidence.

There was no chance they were going to lose this one.

Mikel Arteta‘s men came up with the goods, putting in a steely performance to win 1-0. As a result, they will get the chance to play in a Champions League final for the first time in 20 years, for the first time since Thierry Henry, Arsene Wenger and Co.

Arsenal’s heroes on Tuesday night

What a gargantuan performance this was. Just a month or so ago, the club’s confidence was shot to pieces. The turnaround, therefore, has been seriously impressive.

A 1-0 win and a 2-1 victory on aggregate means it was not comfortable, but such a raucous atmosphere inside the Emirates Stadium helped the players on their way to a famous win. It was perhaps the best atmosphere ever heard inside their new stadium. Not since the Highbury days have they won a Champions League semi-final.

Plenty in red and white who were being written off came up with the goods and then some, ensuring that Atletico Madrid were left with no choice but to accept defeat.

They certainly had Bukayo Saka to thank. He was the biggest hero of them all. He has usually been the go-to man under Arteta and he delivered once again.

Firing home from a matter of yards out, it was one of the easier goals he will score in Arsenal colours, but it was the most important of his career to date. He’s a man for the big occasion, also scoring in the semi-finals last season.

He was given a great deal of help by his fellow countrymen Declan Rice and Myles Lewis-Skelly. Their partnership across the last two games has been breathtaking and full credit must go to Arteta for tweaking things.

Rice and Martin Zubimendi had looked knackered together but by replacing the latter with Lewis-Skelly and moving the former slightly further back into a holding role, it has been game-changing. Arsenal’s Hale End prodigy has struggled for minutes this term but it spoke volumes that in the biggest game of the season, he started from the middle of the park.

While Saka scored and Rice walked home with the man of the match award, praise must also be sent Viktor Gyokeres’ way. The Swede could and should have scored in the second period, but this was undeniably his finest performance for the club yet. He ran the channels like a dog; his work rate was remarkable.

Everything he had been criticised for during his time in north London was perfect on this occasion. His hold-up play, his running and mentality was spot on.

The same can be said for Ben White.

Arsenal’s £50m man returns to form

One of the big areas of criticism Arteta has faced this season has been his lack of rotation to the team. It’s one of the reasons Zubimendi has looked so tired, one of the reasons Jurrien Timber’s performances also dwindled before injury.

Yet, just at the right time, White has returned to form and he’s returned with an almighty bang. When he first joined the Gunners, the defender was hailed as “one of the best prospects in English football” by journalist Tom Barclay.

He quickly became an England regular. He was one of the most important parts of this Arsenal team, only missing one league game during his first year with the club. He played 46 matches the following campaign and then reached over half a century of appearances in 2023/24.

However, in recent years, the full-back has struggled with both form and fitness. White missed 33 games due to injury last season and despite getting back into the England team in 2026, scoring on his return, he has not played much football again, largely due to Timber and Arteta’s lack of rotation.

Before Timber’s injury at the beginning of April, White had started just once in the league this calendar year. Now, he has started three out of the last four Premier League matches, also starting both legs of the semi-final.

That said, until Tuesday night, we had not seen the best of the 28-year-old this term. He was becoming something of a Rob Holding figure in the title race.

Cast your mind back to 2022/23 and there were eerily similar circumstances in which the centre-back entered the team. William Saliba suffered an injury, as Timber did in 2025/26, at the business stage of the season, and his replacement was an error-ridden nightmare.

With Holding in the team, Arsenal won their first two games 4-1 but then came a run of dismal form that ultimately cost them in their bid to win the league. They dropped points in each of their next four fixtures, drawing 2-2 with Liverpool and West Ham, drawing 3-3 with Southampton and losing 4-1 to Man City.

Coincidentally, White’s return to the team resulted in a similar set of circumstances for Arsenal as they lost to Bournemouth in the league, were dumped out of the FA Cup by Southampton and lost the Carabao Cup final. White was particularly poor against the Saints, misjudging the ball in the build-up to Ross Stewart’s goal.

That said, against Atleti in midweek, he was back to his best. He well and truly rolled back the years with arguably his best display in quite some time. We’ve been waiting for a while but this was a gladiatorial display from the Englishman.

He made six defensive contributions, registered five recoveries and produced four clearances. Sure, he was not perfect, but he has played a key role in the improvement of Saka in the last two games.

As good as Timber is, no one quite understands Arsenal’s starboy quite like White. They link up brilliantly and it leads to a much-improved performance in the final third.

A few weeks ago when he was dropped for Cristian Mosquera against Man City, the former Brighton man must have feared for his Arsenal career. Now, however, he is undroppable again.