I have to say that I have been pleasantly surprised by how well Arsenal have coped since losing the young French warrior Francis Coquelin from the centre of the midfield. We did lose the game against West Brom in which Coquelin damaged his knee, but that was largely down to his replacement Mikel Arteta.
The Spaniard went on to pick up his own injury later in that game but that now looks like it was a blessing in disguise. Since Mathieu Flamini took over from Arteta as our cover for Coquelin, the Gunners have not lost a game, winning three of the four and only conceding two goals, which is even better when you remebre that three of them were away from home and Arsenal were under serious pressure.
So far so good then for Flamini, but now the Frenchman faces a much bigger test with the visit of Premier League big boys Man City. Last season when we began to rid ourselves of the unwanted rep of crumbling in big games, Coquelin was a massive part of our away win at the Etihad and we really need Flamini to do ma similar sort of job on Monday.
It won’t be easy for him, as t5he latest injury news suggests that Aguero will be back alongside the attacking and creative talents of Sterling, Silva, De Bruyne and Yaya Toure. Can Flamini pass this toughest of tests? And if he does, will that stop Wenger from signing another DM in the January transfer window?