Defensive Injuries Are Arsenal’s Biggest Area of Concern for New Season

There’s plenty to worry about if you’re an Arsenal fan right now. With the Premier League season about to start, there are several causes for concern.

However, while the Gunners’ preparations have been far from ideal on several counts, there is no greater worry than the defensive injuries they have suffered in the last few weeks.

If Arsene Wenger cannot secure a top centre-half to cover for Per Mertesacker and Gabriel Paulista, the loss of those two players could seriously undermine the new campaign. 

It’s strange how swiftly the defensive issue has become the biggest problem at the Emirates Stadium. For much of the summer, it seemed as if the hunt for a new striker would be the primary thing on Arsenal’s agenda.

But fate intervened, robbing Wenger of Mertesacker for the first half of the campaign. A seemingly innocuous knee injury picked up in a friendly against Lens turned out to be fairly serious ligament damage, and now the Gunners must cope without one of their most experienced players.

The loss of Gabriel has further exacerbated their problems. He picked up an injury in stoppage time during a friendly against Manchester City, and Wenger confirmed to the club’s official site, “Gabriel has an ankle problem, and will be out for six-to-eight weeks. It is a bit better than we feared at the start.” 

The results of Gabriel’s scan may be relatively positive, but it still means that Arsenal will be robbed of the services of two of their three senior centre-halves for the opening months of the season.

The Gunners are left with two inexperienced alternatives in Calum Chambers and Rob Holding. Both are players of significant promise who were part of the England under-21 squad that excelled at this summer’s Toulon Tournament. However, neither has indicated that he is ready to be a regular at a club the size of Arsenal—certainly not without a more experienced head alongside him to coach him through games.

Wenger is a huge proponent of Chambers’ ability, yet reports from John Percy of the Telegraph at the start of the summer suggested the Frenchman was prepared to let the young defender leave on loan to continue his development: 

Arsene Wenger is ready to send Calum Chambers out on loan next season as he steps up his search for a new …

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