Calum Chambers and Gabriel were thrust into action against Liverpool on Monday night, and Arsène Wenger has admitted he was tempted to hook the Englishman at half-time.

Per Mertesacker (illness) and Laurent Koscielny (back) were ruled out of the Premier League fixture, and Chambers struggled badly in the first-half as Liverpool created a number of openings.

The defender was targeted by Liverpool’s pressing as Héctor Bellerín, Francis Coquelin and Santi Cazorla were often too far away to help him play out from the back. As a result Liverpool won the ball high up the field, with Chambers at the centre of most of the turnovers.

Wenger defended the performance of his defenders who, ultimately, kept a clean sheet on the night.

“Chambers and Gabriel do not have the experience of playing together, they’ve come in from one day into the next, but overall we didn’t concede.”

After the break Chambers was far more assured in and out of possession. Subbing the defender did cross the manager’s mind, but he opted to keep faith in the centre-half.

“I knew that the most important thing for us was to get to half-time at 0-0. We knew the second half would be different.

“He responded well,” said Wenger. “It was important for him. You sit there and you wonder how far he can go without losing competitive confidence.

“He’s a good footballer and he will come out of that stronger, with the belief that when he had difficult moments he can come out of it stronger.”

At just 20 years of age every game is a learning curve for Chambers, who has shown that he is a fantastic talent. He will develop quickly and there’s no doubt he has a huge future at Arsenal.

To improve in the manner that he did in the second half showed great resilience, and we can take some solace in that after a dodgy opening 45 minutes.