I am reasonably sure that Arsene Wenger was hoping to be able to rest a few key Arsenal players fir the FA cup 3rd round tie against Sunderland at the Emirates Stadium tomorrow, or at the very least he would have wanted to be able to give Arsenal´s star man and creative genius Mesut Ozil a well deserved break.
And with our Chilean international Alexis Sanchez due back after his hamstring injury the boss would have been able to rest the German without too much concern. But now that the Chilean has had a minor (we hope) setback to his recovery, the midfield injury problems have given Wenger a big problem.
Even bringing Alexis into an unfamiliar number 10 role would have been a worry, with Ozil doing an amazing job pulling the strings for the Gunners all season. But he would have been a good option and without him, who have we got left to fill the position?
No Wilshere, Rosicky or Cazorla leaves Wenger looking at maybe Ramsey, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain or possibly Joel Campbell. Can we really afford to risk our FA cup progress by playing one of these instead of Ozil? Or is the more important question whether we cab afford to keep playing Ozil and risk him joining our other big names in the treatment room?