Every single one of our defenders have been disastrous hence why we have one of the worst defensive records in the league.

But isolating and assessing each CB individual contributions across their playing time this season relative to each other, well then yeah I would agree with others and say that Kouyate has been good for us this season in that CB position.

He was poor at Burnley, but overall been pretty good I'd say. Happy for him to be first choice centre back.

Looking at the bench it's tough to see what else Roy can do.

I'd prefer Mitchell to PvA, and whilst I think kouyate would improve our central midfield, I think Roy uses him in defence to add a bit of mobility we wouldn't have otherwise. Introducing Mateta more gradually seems sensible, I'm sure he'll come on at some point.

At the risk of getting shot at, I'd probably go for Townsend ahead of Ayew on the right. Townsend is a very average player overall, but Ayew just doesn't see forward passes or put crosses in. He's a hard working, occasionally skilfull individualistic player, and that doesn't equate to a good supply line for the front two.