Today’s very narrow win over Crystal Palace has only highlighted the need for Arsenal to buy a top class backup for the DM Francis Coquelin. Last week we saw his dubious abilities of spraying the ball to begin an attack, and this week we could have easily been reduced to ten men if the referee Lee Mason had been brave enough to give him a second yellow TWICE.
No one can argue that the first yellow was deserved,but the second was so blatantly cynical that I bet even Arsene Wenger was certain he was going to play out the game one man down (that’s if he saw it lol). Mason then compounded his leniency by immediately booking a Palace player for a much less cynical foul.
By the time the third incident came around, even Coquelin himself was preparing to just walk off the pitch as he knew that his luck had finally run out, but somehow the ref was lenient once again. Wenger finally came to his senses and took Coquelin off the field to save him for another day.
If he had been sent off, the second half would obviously have been a lot harder for Arsenal to hold on to their lead, but also we would have been without our number one DM for the crucial clash against Liverpool next week.
Mikel Arteta did okay when he came on considering it was his first competitive game for over six months, but with his own injury record there is no guarantee he will always be available as cover. He certainly is unlikely to be able to play three games in a week if anything untoward happens to Le Coq.
And with Flamini left out the squad completely amidst rumours he is now surplus to requirements, it is blatantly obvious that the Gunners are short in the defensive midfield area.
I certainly hope that Wenger has got a surprise signing up his sleeve because any DM is practically guaranteed to pick up yellows on a regular basis and is more liable to injuries over the season….