Thegoalmac can reveal that Arsene Wenger could be forced into making another defensive reshuffle for Arsenal’s clash against Southampton on Wednesday with Kieran Gibbs and Nacho Monreal both injury doubts.
Monreal
started at left-back against West Brom on Saturday having covered in
central defence in Laurent Koscielny’s absence, but the Spaniard was
forced off after just 23 minutes with a knee injury.
Personally, I'm beginning to think that Arsenal endless injury issues could be very spiritual, Lol.., just saying sha. What do you think that could be responsible for their unending injuries? And as for the match which team are you rooting for to win? Continue for the full match preview after the cut.
Gibbs
replaced Monreal but Wenger, who is already without Mathieu Debuchy,
revealed after the match that the left-back was struggling with an ankle
problem and would be assessed ahead of the fixture against Southampton.
Alex
Oxlade-Chamberlain also suffered a knee injury after coming on as a
substitute at The Hawthorns but the winger was able to complete the
match and is expected to be fit.
Danny Welbeck’s second-half
header sealed the 1-0 victory against West Brom to end Arsenal’s run of
back-to-back defeats in the Premier League.
Wenger’s men remain
sixth in the table but are 13 points behind leaders Chelsea and two
behind Manchester United, who are in fourth place.
Southampton,
meanwhile, suffered only their third defeat of the season on Sunday as
Manchester City ran out 3-0 winners at St Mary’s.
Ronald Koeman’s
men slipped to third in Premier League after the loss but are still
four points ahead of Manchester United, who host Stoke City on Tuesday.
Southampton
have already beaten Arsenal once this season after registering a 2-1
win at the Emirates Stadium in the League Cup in September, although
Wednesday’s fixture comes in the middle of a challenging eight-day
period for Koeman’s side, which culminates with a home match against
Manchester United next Monday.
But while Koeman - who will be
without Morgan Schneiderlin (thigh) at Arsenal - admitted his players
are somewhat downbeat after Sunday, he wants their trip to north London
to be seen as an opportunity.
"Of course, it's been different. The faces are different when you lose, that's normal," the Dutchman said on Monday.
"It has to be like that because if you don't have that you don't learn.
"We know on Wednesday we play again and there is no time to be disappointed with one result.
"Arsenal is the best way to have a good reaction - that means working hard and showing it on the pitch.
"Like
City, they had some problems but the spirit of them is back and they
have good players - they are a team who has to fight to win the title or
there are critics."

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