Shkodran Mustafi reveals what Arsenal must do to shackle Kevin De Bruyne ahead of EFL Cup final

The German defender is expected to lead the Arsenal rearguard against free-scoring City at Wembley

Shkodran Mustafi warns Arsenal they need to keep their concentration against Manchester City (Getty )

Shkodran Mustafi has said his Arsenal side must be 'as compact as we can' in order to stop the creative influence of Manchester City playmaker Kevin De Bruyne in the EFL Cup final.

The German defender is expected to lead the Arsenal rearguard at Wembley against a free-scoring City side who have already scored 111 goals in all competitions this season. De Bruyne has been a creative tour-de-force at the heart of Pep Guardiola's midfield, leading his manager to suggest he could challenge for the Ballon d'Or if he can secure major silverware.

And Mustafi, who has yet to win a major trophy at club level, is well aware of the threat the Belgian international poses.

"Kevin has shown in recent seasons that he is a top class player," he said. "He also has top class players around him as well.

"It will be very important to try and stop his qualities because players like him can make things happen. We have to try and make everything as compact as we can give them as little time on the ball as we can."

Arsenal have had a disappointing campaign to date and their defence has come under intense scrutiny recent weeks, underlined by goalkeeper Petr Cech's struggles to reach 200 Premier League clean sheets. The 35-year-old is still stuck on 199, a figure he reached back in December.

The Gunners narrowly averted a humiliating Europa League exit in mid-week against Swedish minnows Ostersunds, finding themselves two goals down at half-time at the Emirates, leaving them perilously close to throwing away a 3-0 aggregate advantage.

Mustafi did not play against the Swedish side but the World Cup-winning defender was determined to point out that one of Arsenal's prevailing criticisms, their weak mental character, was misplaced. He pointed to their semi-final success against Chelsea as indicative of their 'character', a tie they won 2-1 over two legs.

"We had a good solid game against Chelsea away and then at home we knew that we were strong enough to beat them," he said. "We showed character coming back from 1-0 down to win the game.

"I know that everyone in our dressing room wants to win games and is not happy to lose. That’s why this season we have come back in matches from being 1-0 or 2-0 down, or even like last year when we came back from 3-0 down against Bournemouth.

"It shows we have character in the dressing room and we will always give everything for this club."

Arsenal have already faced Manchester City once this season, losing 3-1 in their Premier League encounter at the Etihad courtesy of goals from De Bruyne, Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus, with the latter potentially in line to make a surprise return for the final.

De Bruyne scored City's 100th goal of the season (Getty)

Mustafi missed that game through a hamstring and in his absence the Gunners were largely outclassed for ninety minutes by the home side. However the former Valencia defender is expecting a tactical and tense meeting at Wembley, one in which he is hoping to channel last season's semi-final success against Guardiola's side to help the North London club lift the EFL trophy for the first time under Arsene Wenger.

"It will be a very tactical game because they are well organised and dangerous up front. They have shown their quality all season in the Premier League. We need to make sure that we are compact, organised and concentrated for 90 minutes, and extra time if required. We have to play our own game when we get the ball and play as quickly as we can to find opportunity to break them down," he said.

"It’s a final. Finals are always exciting and tense games. We hope that we will be the better team but we will see on the day. It’s all on the day. We had a good result against them last season in the FA Cup semi-final. We just need to show that level of performance again."