Arsenal face the third-bottom side Cardiff this evening desperately needing a win to add some pressure to Chelsea and Tottenham above us in the League table, and just for a change we have hardly any defenders to choose from! I know we are only playing Cardiff, but after losing Rob Holding and Hector Bellerin for the rest of the season, we are a little bit short of defenders.
And now Emery has told us some more bad news before tonights game. [Koscielny and Sokratis] are not OK for tomorrow,” the boss said on Arsenal.com. “But it is good news for example for Laurent Koscielny because he didn’t break his jaw.
“Sokratis doesn’t have a big injury but he isn’t OK [to face Cardiff], I don’t know how long but I think maybe two or three weeks.
“Mavropanos has been working with us for the past month and has playing with the under-23s. He is in the squad with the possibility to play.”
So who will play in defence tonight? Mavropanos, who has not kicked all ball all season and has only played for us a handful of times, and/or Shkrodan Mustafi, who we all know is inconsistent. What about Monreal who has only started 9 games this season, although the boss seems to prefer Kolasinac although he isn’t really a defender at all. Lichtsteiner, who has started even less with 5 games and must now be our only right back unless Emery prefers to play Maitland-Niles out of position.
Ermm… or maybe Jenkinson? He hasn’t started any League games either…. Maybe bring Xhaka back into defence, as that always works doesn’t it!
Okay I give up. Can anyone give a sensible back line line up that will work for tonight? Because I can’t!
Darren N