Arteta's Dilemma: Should Zubimendi Start Against PSG?
On the eve of Arsenal’s biggest night in more than a decade, Mikel Arteta is wrestling with the kind of selection problems managers usually dream of. But one decision, above all, is haunting the build-up to the Champions League final against PSG.
Who takes on Khvicha Kvaratskhelia?
UEFA may have dropped a hint. On Thursday, a video surfaced on X from Spain’s 4-0 win away to Georgia last November. Buried in the highlights: Martin Zubimendi, nominally a central midfielder, sprinting down the flank, timing his challenge, and cleanly stripping Kvaratskhelia of the ball.
It was only a fleeting moment in a routine qualifier. Yet 24 hours before Arsenal face PSG, it suddenly looks like a clue.
Timber, Mosquera… or Something Radical?
Arteta’s first headache is Jurrien Timber. The defender is back in training this week after a groin injury suffered against Everton in mid-March, but he has not played a minute since. Match fit? Possibly. Battle hardened for a Champions League final against one of the most devastating wingers on the planet? That is another question entirely.
Throwing Timber straight into this fire would be a huge gamble. The stakes are brutal: get it wrong against a player of Kvaratskhelia’s quality and the night can unravel in a handful of seconds.
Cristhian Mosquera offers a different profile. A centre-back by trade, he has the pace to recover, yet he is not naturally built for the one‑on‑one, touchline duels that Kvaratskhelia thrives on. His instincts draw him inside, into the traffic, not out wide into the open spaces where this final could be decided.
So Arteta looks at his board, moves the pieces, and keeps circling back to the same name.
Zubimendi.
A Trial Run at Selhurst Park?
Arteta has never been shy about a left‑field solution. Last Sunday at Crystal Palace, he sprang another surprise: Zubimendi at right-back. No warning, no gentle introduction, just a sudden shift that left many wondering if it was pure necessity or a test run.
Maybe it was both.
Zubimendi is not a natural full-back, but he reads danger, positions himself intelligently, and rarely panics in isolation. The UEFA clip from Georgia only reinforces that point. Against Kvaratskhelia, he judged the angle, backed his timing, and won the duel cleanly. Not a fluke. A defender’s tackle from a midfielder’s body.
For a coach who prizes control and structure, that kind of versatility is gold.
Midfield Sacrifice, Defensive Insurance
There is a cost. Zubimendi has already lost his starting place in midfield in recent weeks. Myles Lewis‑Skelly’s resurgence has changed the dynamic in the centre of the pitch, his energy and sharpness complementing Declan Rice so well that the Englishman now has a strong claim to keep his spot.
Drop Lewis‑Skelly to restore Zubimendi in midfield and Arsenal lose that momentum. Keep Lewis‑Skelly and Rice together and Zubimendi becomes the odd man out in his natural role.
That is where the full-back solution starts to make sense. It keeps Lewis‑Skelly and Rice in the engine room, preserves Arsenal’s balance in possession, and still finds a way to use Zubimendi in a game of this magnitude.
Arteta knows how much the Spaniard has given him this season. Leaving such a decisive figure on the bench in a Champions League final would gnaw at him.
The Final Call
Right now, Mosquera still feels like the conservative choice. A defender in a defender’s role, a more orthodox answer to an extraordinary problem. Timber, having missed out at Palace last weekend, remains a major doubt to start. The leap from the treatment room to a final of this intensity is vast.
Yet the thought lingers: if Timber cannot make it, and if Arteta wants craft as well as courage on that flank, Zubimendi at full-back suddenly looks less like an experiment and more like a calculated risk.
One clip from a cold night in Georgia might not decide a Champions League final. But it has given Arteta something he cannot ignore – proof that, in the right moment, Martin Zubimendi can look a lot like the answer.
