Arsenal’s League Cup showdown with Southampton this week could well be a sign of things to come for Arsene Wenger ’s depleted squad.
On Monday the Gunners’ manager revealed that Mathieu Debuchy had undergone ankle surgery and would miss at least the next three months, as per the club’s official website.
“It’s a blow, of course,” the 64-year-old conceded. “How big it will be we will only know afterwards because it will be down to how we replace him.”
Away to Borussia Dortmund in a Champions League contest that fell three days after Debuchy went down against Manchester City, it was 19-year-old Hector Bellerin who came in for the France right-back. At Villa Park on Saturday it fell to Calum Chambers to move over from the centre of defense.
Bellerin will likely get another start in the position when Southampton visit Emirates Stadium on Tuesday, and several other youngsters—including Isaac Hayden, Chuba Akpom and Semi Ajayi—could see action as well.
Wenger is still without left-back Nacho Monreal, and each of Mikel Arteta, Serge Gnabry, Theo Walcott and Olivier Giroud is also unavailable through injury in addition to Debuchy.
Akpom, who made his England U20 debut earlier this month against Romania, could lead the line against the Saints, although it’s over his defensive corps that Wenger will be agonising the most ahead of kick-off, as well as during the next few months generally.
“[Hayden] is a ball winner,” the Arsenal boss told the club’s official website after announcing the Debuchy news. “He’s a good central defender and a good central midfielder. Technically he was working on his game a bit, but now he is ready for that level.”
Ajayi, meanwhile, spent last season with the U21s after arriving on a free transfer from Charlton, and the towering, 20-year-old centre-back is also likely to get a senior debut on Tuesday.
Casting a shadow over Arsenal’s League Cup responsibilities is Saturday’s north London derby against Tottenham Hotspur. Defenders Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny have been racking up the minutes already this season, and both could be rested midweek with the derby in mind.
It’s the sort of conundrum Wenger was always going to find himself this term, what with the sale of Thomas Vermaelen to Barcelona, Carl Jenkinson’s loan deal with West Ham, Bacary Sagna’s move to Manchester City and a decision to end his search for defensive reinforcements with Debuchy and Chambers.
Now, barely a month into the season, it’s Bellerin, Hayden and Ajayi who are forced into the spotlight—and not just in the League Cup.
With Debuchy only beginning his recovery and other injuries likely to add to the strain on the squad going forward (this is Arsenal, after all), Wenger’s youngsters will face undue pressure between now and Christmas, and the club’s fortunes could well rest on their abilities to prevent a drop-off in performance within the starting XI.
For them, it’s not exactly a fair set of circumstances. But it’s one that only ever repeats itself with the Gunners.
from Bleacher Report http://ift.tt/1uzvIRX
via IFTTT September 22, 2014 at 02:06PM
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