The Arsenal Back 4

Santos clutches his injured right ankle vs. Olympiacos

Yesterday Arsenal confirmed that summer signing Andre Santos will be out for around three months, following the decision to send him to Brazil for surgery after damaging ligaments in his right ankle in the Olymipiacos game last week. This news compounds Arsenal's defensive problems, with Kieran Gibbs and Bacary Sagna all out injured too. Both Jenkinson and Gibbs are around two to three weeks away from any return to first team action and Sagna is unlikely to return before January - although he tweeted yesterday that he expects to be back running soon.

In the 1-0 victory over Everton, Arsenal fielded 4 centre backs and it showed. There was a real lack of width, the Gunners struggling when attempting to work the ball wide. Many are also unconvinced by the pairing of Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny in the centre of defence. It must be said that they played much better as a duo on Saturday than in their last outing together. Koscielny had been providing cover at right back in recent weeks, but was shifted into the centre of defence to allow Thomas Vermaelen to provide cover at left back. This combination worked alright, but Johan Djourou did not look comfortable at full back. I personally feel that reverting back to the centre half pairing of Mertesacker and Vermaelen with Koscielny at right back would be a sensible move. Koscielny definitely is more comfortable going forward and providing the width to work with Theo Walcott in attack. 

In order to do that, the issue of who plays left back comes to the fore. From an attacking perspective I think that the solution is simple and is Ignasi Miquel. From what we saw against Olympiacos he is comfortable going forward – he provided the original cross in the build-up to Arsenal’s goal – however he is an inexperienced player. If the game this weekend was not against Manchester City, then I would have no issue whatsoever with starting the young Spaniard. He has had some game time this season, getting a good run out in the 2-0 reverse against Liverpool and some good performances in the Carling Cup. All these things suggest that he is ready to be given a chance at the weekend, his assured performance against City in the League Cup can only count in his favour, and I feel that he would help to provide some of the width that Arsenal will need to create chances at the weekend. It will be a very tough ask to work opportunities on goal if everything is going through the middle of the pitch.

Looking beyond this weekend though, I believe that it would be sensible for Wenger to look to bring in some cover in the full back position for the second half of the season. With two capable left backs in Santos and Gibbs a loan move is probably most likely and most sensible. I have seen suggestions that Wayne Bridge should be brought in from City temporarily, and I feel that this could well be a sensible option. With a sizeable amount of Premier League experience, and some in the Champions League he may well represent the best short term solution with Gibbs unlikely to be fit until January (and an unconvincing injury record) and Santos now out for the majority of the season.

Who do you think should be brought in as cover? Is it even needed? Let me know on http://twitter.com/#!/Goonernl or in the comments below.