Arsenal travel to Spain on Thursday night knowing they need to score to progress to this season's Europa League final, but keeping Atletico Madrid out at the other end will be equally pivotal.

While conceding one goal won't hugely change the complexion of the challenge in front of them, a strike of their own being enough to see them through to extra time at 2-2, any more than that will give them a huge mountain to climb.

And defensive performances away from home have been a real problem for the north London club this season. They've kept just seven clean sheets on the road this term, from a possible 25, and have conceded 28 away goals in the Premier League.

But Arsenal's 2-1 defeat to Manchester United on Sunday threw up a surprise solution in the form of 20-year-old prospect Konstantinos Mavropanos, who impressed at the heart of defence upon his Premier League debut. The promising Greek looked calm, composed and imposing at the back and appeared to enjoy his physical battle with Romelu Lukaku before the Red Devils striker was forced to withdraw through injury.

"He was Sven Mislintat’s first signing and was someone he didn’t know too much about. But I haven’t seen a performance like this, the anticipation, the pace, the awareness, from Arsenal for a long time. For a 20-year-old to come in and be as cool and as calm as he was is so impressive.

"I don’t think we’ve got anything to lose by playing him. He hasn’t done too badly against Lukaku. You could put him up against Diego Costa, I know he’s a different kind of forward but he looked like he was up for that battle."

Mavropanos was so impressive, in fact, that Arsenal legend Ian Wright even called for the 6 foot 4 defender to keep his place for the season-defining clash with Atletico, potentially over more experienced and proven alternatives in Laurent Koscielny and Shkodran Mustafi. So we posed that exact question to Arsenal fans, asking whether the Sven Mislintat signing should be kept in the starting XI on Thursday night.

And according to our poll, the vast majority of Arsenal fans - 84% - think Mavropanos showed enough promise to start against the Spanish giants, who boast a fantastic record in European competitions under Diego Simeone's guidance.

But that begs another key question in itself; who from Arsenal's most established centre-back pairing should be dropped to make room for the youngster? Let us know by voting below...

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