Gunners boss, Arsene Wenger, has major injury concerns with his biggest headache in defence.
Laurent Koscielny (achilles), Mathieu Debuchy (ankle) and Calum Chambers (suspended) are all unavailable for this weekends clash with Hull City, meaing nine first team players in total are unavailable for the game.
The long-term fitness of Koscielny is the biggest worry, and Wenger will be looking to reinforce his back line when the transfer window re-opens in January.
Talking about Koscielny: ‘It has got worse, he finds it difficult to play with at the moment,’ said Wenger, who added that the French international does not require surgery.
‘If you wait for it to be better, it can be a short time. If you want to get rid of it completely, it is long term.
‘We will monitor him and as soon as he can take enough pain again he will play.’
During Arsenal’s AGM this week, Wenger confirmed that they would be looking to sign a central defender in the New Year.
Virgil van Dijk has impressed during his time at Celtic Park, and the 23-year-old almost signed for the Gunners in the summer. Arsenal are again interested and are considering a £7million swoop for the Dutch under-21 star.
During the AGM on Thursday, there were some difficult questions for the Arsenal board to address:
‘Don’t let’s be in a muddle about who calls the shots about football at Arsenal,’ said Sir Chips Keswick, the Arsenal chairman. ‘It is not the fans, it is not the chairman, it is Mr Arsene Wenger. If he has a plan, we back him. If he doesn’t have a plan, we keep quiet.’
Keswick was replying to a question from Nigel Payne, a fan and shareholder, who was baffled by the failure to buy after the summer sale of Thomas Vermaelen. To significant applause, Payne said ‘heaven knows what will happen in the current absence through injury of Koscielny’.
We will see what happens over the coming months, but given the signings Wenger made in the Summer, and a squad-bolstering on the cards in January, Arsenal could well be building something special. They just need to agree overtime terms with the already much-worked medical team.
Written by Michael Horne
Follow me on Twitter @MichaelHorne777
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