• Arsenal v Southampton: shocking revelations about referees, tackles and cards
• Arsenal v Southampton: where the two teams have been of late

By Bulldog Drummond

So I guess the big question is, will we see Ethan Nwaneri again against Southampton, and if so, for how long?   Is Arteta protecting the player by not exposing him too much to the rough and tumble that can be found in the lower reaches of the league, or is he going to give him every opportunity against opponents who simply cannot match such a brilliant young player?

Certain Nwaneri shone against when he came on against Leicester City, so that would suggest we will see him again playing against Southampton – and bringing him on as the opposition defence starts to tire would seem a good idea – providing we can rely on the referee to give the youngster suitable protection. 

Certainly against Leicester, he was taking on anyone in his way within seconds of coming on, and if he can do that regularly he could change the pattern of any game that is getting stuck, with the opposition digging in and going for a draw not a win.

It was indeed fairly clear from the amount of time he got pre-season that the young player had the opportunity to get time in league matches if he showed he could stand the place and the thuggish tackles that will obviously follow him around, and so a fair spell in the game against Southampton should show everyone what he can take.

Indeed Arsenal under Arteta has shown before that young players can get their chances.   Saka is the most obvious example, not just by being introduced and becoming a regular, but now becoming captain.  What’s more Myles Lewis Skelly has been given game time, an these of course are players who count as “homegrown” obviously, making it easier to buy any other player who is wanted without overly worrying about his nationality.

At the same time, such appearances are showing that Arsenal can cope with a much higher level of injuries this season than they had last season.  And with Mikel Merino coming on against PSG things are certainly starting to look less worrisome on the player front.

Indeed given this array of talent one can almost stop thinking about our missing captain.

According to Premier Injuries  Arsenal have three players completely ruled out for the game against Southampton: Odegaard, Zinchnko, and Tierney.  Ben White and Justin Timber are rated as 50% chances of making the match.  Tomiyasu is a 25% chance.

So these are much more difficult times in terms of injuries than last season, and the advent of any youngster breaking into the scene is good news.  However this is the media and this is Arsenal so we must expect something not to be right… and here it is…“

Arsenal could now face crisis vs Southampton as National Team make decision over ‘unbelievable’ pace”

Now when then word “could” is used it needs to be taken with a pinch of something or other.  And here the story is that five of the seven Arsenal full backs are injured.

So what is the problem?

“Left-backs Kieran Tierney and Oleksandr Zinchenko are injured, whilst Takehiro Tomiyasu has only just returned to training.   Right-back Ben White has missed the last two games through injury as well, and Jurrien Timber impressed on the right in his absence, but the Dutchman was withdrawn at half-time against Paris Saint-Germain with a muscular complaint,”

So there we are that’s another way of looking at it.  But these injuries have been around for a bit, and what we can do at this point is take a look at just how Arsenal’s defence is doing.

If we were to draw up a league table based on number of goals conceded Arsenal would be second in the league, rather than third as they are in the points-based table with under one goal conceded a game.   Top of the table is Liverpool with two goals against, and the almighty ManC is in sixth place with six goals against.

Southampton are 18th with 12 goals against.   So yes we might well have a few injuries and yes several of them might be defenders, but on the basis of the games so far we really are not doing too badly.  Besides Southampton might come to play for a goalless draw.