He is still the Arsenal club captain and as far as we know the former Germany international Per Mertesacker has recovered fully from his injury and is fit enough to play, although the tall centre back was not included on the subs bench for Arsenal’s draw with Man City at the weekend.
That could have been a tactical move by Arsene Wenger though, especially as the lack of pace our BFG has could have been a big problem against the pace and fancy footwork of the City forwards like Sane, Sterling, Silva and Aguero, while his height advantage would not have been too much of a balance.
Against West Ham, however, and the likes of Andy Carroll the abilities of Mertesacker could come in very useful for Arsenal and after our number one centre back Laurent Koscielny picked up an injury to his Achilles that will rule him out for Wednesday at least, perhaps the German could be the answer alongside his countryman Mustafi.
The lack of play our BFG has had might be a concern, as Per has not featured at all for the Gunners this season, but he is vastly experienced and to be perfectly honest we could do with a few more leaders out there on the pitch. What do you think Gooners?
Bob.