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.

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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: 

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

Wenger has agreed to sanction a move for £16million signing Chambers in a bid to continue the defender’s progression in the Premier League. 

Chambers endured a frustrating second half to the last campaign and this year he only started games in the FA Cup, playing just over 50 minutes as a substitute in the league.  

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The move to sign Holding seemed to tally with those stories. Holding is another youngster who is capable of providing cover at centre-half as well as right-back. Bringing him in from Bolton was seen as a move that would allow Chambers to temporarily leave the club and get the game time he requires to fulfil his potential. 

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Holding has had an impressive start to his Arsenal career. He probably didn’t anticipate playing so regularly in pre-season, but the injury situation has forced him to settle quickly. Wenger is impressed, per the Mirror:

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He's adapted surprisingly. In a very good way, because he reads the game well and understands what's going on, anticipates well. 

And that's a quality at such a young age that you do not find a lot.

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Encouraging though Holding has been, Wenger must recognise that it would be unfair to put him straight into the firing line at the heart of the Arsenal defence. This is a player who was relegated from the Championship last season—expecting him to cope against opposition of Liverpool’s continental quality on the opening weekend is surely too much.

Wenger has a nasty habit of relying too much on young defenders. The likes of Philippe Senderos and Johan Djourou demonstrated enormous promise in the early part of their careers, only to become damaged goods due to overexposure. If Wenger is not careful, Chambers and Holding could face the same fate.

Wenger needs some experienced heads at the back. It’s no great surprise that Francis Coquelin, Nacho Monreal and Mathieu Debuchy have all been trialled at centre-half in recent weeks. Wenger is certainly in the midst of a crisis. 

He is also facing a dilemma over how to handle Laurent Koscielny. The Frenchman was given an extended break after the disappointment of losing the European Championship final against Portugal. Koscielny was arguably at fault, having been turned for Eder’s winning goal, and Wenger thought it necessary to allow his mind and body to recuperate.

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Koscielny only reported to London Colney this week. Throwing a player into action in the Premier League after just a few days of training would be an enormous risk. 

Wenger’s greatest fear will surely be that Koscielny, who is prone to injury problems himself, could suffer a setback and miss an extended period of the season. Without Koscielny, Mertesacker and Gabriel, Arsenal would undoubtedly be in disarray.

The obvious solution—to everyone outside of Arsenal, at any rate—is to recruit a new defender. According to Matt Law of the Telegraph, the Gunners have identified Mertesacker’s fellow German Shkodran Mustafi as the man to plug the gap. Wenger is also reportedly considering a move for former Manchester United man Jonny Evans:

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Arsenal will formalise their interest in Shkodran Mustafi by making a bid for the Valencia player in a desperate effort to solve the defensive crisis that has hit the club on the eve of the new Premier League season. 

Gabriel’s injury means Wenger is now prioritising signing a new defender ahead of his long-running striker search and a bid in the region of £20 million for Mustafi is expected to be placed inside 48 hours in the hope a deal could be rushed through. 

Arsenal are also interested in Jonny Evans, but West Bromwich Albion are insistent that it would take far more that the £15 million the Gunners are believed to be prepared to pay to tempt them to sell the former Manchester United man. 

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The link to Evans won’t set pulses racing, but it’s indicative of how desperate Arsenal’s need has become. Facing Liverpool without an experienced centre-half to call upon will be difficult enough, but the prospect of having to go any further without reinforcements will terrify the Gunners faithful.

Wenger must ensure this spate of injuries does not derail their 2016/17 campaign before it has truly begun.

James McNicholas is Bleacher Report's lead Arsenal correspondent and will be following the club from a London base throughout 2016/17. Follow him on Twitter here.