No one should blame Mustafi, Unai Emery tells Arsenal fans ahead of Wolves match

Shkodran Mustafi was at fault for two of Crystal Palace's goals on Sunday. [Courtesy]

Arsenal manager Unai Emery has vowed to protect his players despite their performance in the remaining crucial matches before the end of the season.

Speaking before their crunch match against Wolves on Wednesday, Emery came to the defence of Shkodran Mustafi, saying that he is young and needs to improve daily because he has the right qualities.

Mustafi was at fault for two of Crystal Palace's goals in Arsenal's shock 3-2 Premier League defeat at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday.

"I want to protect my players. Mustafi is a very good player, a very good centre-back. He has the habit of doing a tackle and going to ground, using his anticipation against the opposition.

"He can win one [tackle], win two, win three, win four - but if he loses one he is the picture and if we concede a goal he is the big picture. I have spoken to him: 'you are young, you can improve and you need to work hard because you have a big quality for a centre-back'.

"For example, against Watford, he was the best of all the players, he won all the balls in the air with his head and that is a very good statistic for him. On Sunday against Christian Benteke, it is more difficult to win every ball in the air but it was 50-50."

Mustafi had a game to forget against Palace. [Courtesy]

Emery has often switched between a three and four-man defence, a system he believes suits Mustafi perfectly playing alongside two other central defenders.

"When we use three centre backs, we protect them more. You can anticipate, and you can lose one [tackle] but we have two who are covering. When we have only two, if you lose the anticipation, there is only one behind. That is happening a lot with Mustafi, but I want him to not do the tackle on the ground every time.

"You have to be clever in your mind about what is the moment to go [to the ground] and what is not the moment, but that is part of the process."

Arsenal manager Unai Emery [Courtesy]

The Spaniard was quick to absolve Mustafi of any blame after he let Wilfried Zaha get the wrong side of him for Palace's second shock goal.

"He is young, he is improving and Sunday he is in the big picture because of the second goal. But it's not his mistake. The mistake was tactical because we need to protect him with two centre-backs against Zaha. I protect him because I believe in him,” said Emery.

He concluded by asking fans to continue supporting players in the crucial final weeks of the season.