Gibbs will return. Clichy will be sold

Gael Clichy: you owe Eliaqium Mangala a thank-you. Last night, his stretched, spiteful right foot saved your first-team spot.

In the 93rd minute of last night’s game, Mangala sprinted towards Kieran Gibbs, and lunged. There was, of course, nothing to achieve: seconds remained, and Standard Liege had lost. There was even less to achieve once Gibbs, aware of the danger, kicked the ball clear.

But Mangala, an 18-year-old from Paris, kept going, spurred on by immature spite. His right boot arrowed into Gibbs’ left toe, and snapped the metatarsal.

Gibbs will be injured for three months. He’ll arrive back in Arsenal’s squad at the same time as Clichy, who’s also injured. Arsene Wenger, who demands - and therefore provides - loyalty, will keep Clichy as first choice left-back.

But if Gibbs had played until February, he’d be first choice. Why? Because, since the start of last season, he’s the most improved full-back in England. And Clichy has got worse, worse, and worse.

Gibbs used to be a left-winger, and not a very good one. He didn’t threaten Arsenal’s first team the way, say, Jack Wilshere does, or even David Bentley did. In the second half of 2007 / 2008, Gibbs went to Norwich on loan, and started six games in three months, without scoring.

But the experience wasn’t wasted. As Barack Obama’s community work in Illinois informs his character, and presidency, Gibbs’ days on the left-wing are evident when he plays left-back.

His defending, helped by ten engines’ worth of pace, is sound. Unlike some left-backs - Stuart Pearce, for example, or Paolo Maldini - Gibbs hasn’t the nous, or build, to play centre-back. But he’s no worse than a 20-year-old Ashley Cole.

Going forward, though, is Gibbs' strength. In the opposition half, he plays like a left-winger. He wants to hit the byline and pull balls back; he wants to play one-twos; he wants to dart into the box.

Clichy, on the other hand, is happy to stay 30 or 40 yards from goal; a left-back in strange territory. He’s happy to be an auxiliary body, rather than an attacker. He doesn’t enter the box and, therefore, has scored one goal in almost 200 games: a deflected shot against Stoke.

Clichy’s crossing, like Theo Walcott’s, has the slap-dash nature of homework finished on the school bus. It’s half-hearted, hit and hope. There are, honestly, left-backs with better crossing in non-league football.

Clichy’s lazy side-footers wouldn’t work with Les Ferdinand and Alan Shearer up front. They certainly won’t with Robin van Persie.

If Real Madrid offer 20 million Euros for Clichy this summer, Wenger will accept, and feign their-chequebook’s-bigger-than-ours acceptance. But, as when Emmanuel Adebayor and Kolo Toure left, he’ll be delighted.

Nine years after Arsenal produced one English left-back, whose career was rescued after a spell in the league below, they’ve done it again. And the new model’s an improvement on the last.

Mangala has delayed Gibbs’ first-team place, not cancelled it. Clichy’s future is elsewhere.