Arsenal have returned from their pre-season tour of Australia and China, where the Gunners saw varied results- beating two Sydney teams, overcoming Bayern Munich on penalties but losing 3-0 to Premier League champions Chelsea in Beijing.

The results aren’t a clear indication of Arsenal’s levels ahead of the new season though as numerous key-players were absent from the tour, particularly in defence as Shkodran Mustafi, Gabriel Paulista and Rob Holding did not travel with the squad.

That trio returned to Arsenal this week, with Mustafi and Holding both training whilst Gabriel steps-up his recovery from injury, but the Gunners can be seen as relatively short in the centre of defence- particularly if Arsene Wenger’s side persist with a three-man back-line.

However, Wenger seems to have a plan up his sleeve as he’s planning to use versatile members of his squad as cover defensively- having utilised Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Mohamed Elneny in defensive roles during the tour, with the latter even playing centre-back.

Elneny has been linked with an exit this summer but he’s very much in Arsenal’s plans, with Wenger suggesting the Egyptian international could be used in defence when the Premier League season returns next month.

Speaking to the club’s official website, Wenger said:

“Elneny is a player who has a fantastic mentality and attitude, and his main target is to help the team. When he plays there, of course he does extremely well.”

“Of course [he needs to learn the defensive side], but I always felt that a good central midfielder can be a good centre back. With the fact of course that when you’re playing in the back four you have to be decisive in the challenges, you have a bit more flexibility in the middle of a back three. He can do that.”

“Overall on tour, I played players like Elneny in a back three and he coped very well. Maitland-Niles sometimes played at centre back as well, even in the big games against Chelsea.”

“You see their strengths and their weaknesses, and you learn a lot about your players and your combinations too. The advantage we have is that we have a good stability in our squad, so I already know who I can combine with who, more or less.”

Utilising Elneny in this role is likely to be a last resort, although we could see him feature in this position this weekend in the Emirates Cup- with Arsenal tackling Benfica today before clashing with Sevilla tomorrow, the last of their pre-season friendlies before the Community Shield tie with Chelsea next week.