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Francis Coquelin Injury Brings Nightmares To Arsenal
By Josh Sippie
Francis Coquelin left the game against West Brom before 15 minutes had surpassed due to knee injury. What would an injury like this do to Arsenal?
The last thing Arsenal needed at the Hawthorns was an injury, least of all to the one guy that can not be coped without. But that is precisely what they got. Francis Coquelin went into a slide tackle early and his knee was jarred on the challenge. Immediately, the Frenchman went to ground and after medical attention, signaled for a sub. On came Mikel Arteta.
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And just like that, the nightmares begin. Arsenal need Francis Coquelin more than anyone else. What he brings to the center of the pitch is irreplaceable. Throughout the down years of paying off the Emirates, the one thing Arsenal direly missed was a midfielder like Francis Coquelin. A bruiser that could enforce the law in front of the defense.
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They filled that hole when Francis Coquelin was called back from Charlton Athletic. But they never backed him up. Throughout numerous transfer windows, the Frenchman remained on his own, unaccompanied by anyone else of similar ilk.
And as such, Arsenal continued to walk the injury tightrope. That tightrope may very well have caught fire with Francis Coquelin going down. The initial assessment was his MCL and given the substantial limp that accompanied him getting off the pitch, that assessment would make sense. Francis Coquelin is a very tough guy and for him to request a substitution, something has to be terribly wrong.
This leaves Arsenal in a terrible, no good, very rotten place. Francis Coquelin, as mentioned, has no reinforcement. Mikel Arteta is not a defensive midfielder. His pace is incredibly lacking and his defensive qualities are similarly lacking. Plus, given his age, he cannot keep pace with the high attack rate that Arsenal employs.
But that is all we have. If not, the mantle falls to Captain Planet, Mathieu Flamini. Flamini has a very enigmatic aura, but Arsenal do not need an enigma, they need a defender with an engine.
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With the January transfer window still over a month away, Arsenal now find themselves in a tight spot. Thankfully, Aaron Ramsey will be back soon. He may get caught ahead of the ball, but he has the engine to get back and defend better than Arteta or Flamini can.
Hopefully. And this is a big ‘hopefully’, Arsene Wenger sees what a pickle this Francis Coquelin injury could put Arsenal in and he reacts in the transfer window. But again, that is a big ‘hopefully’.