Arsenal vs Southampton: Laurent Koscielny better be a certainty

Unai Emery has indicated that Laurent Koscielny is not a certainty to start for Arsenal against Southampton but… shouldn’t be be exactly that?

Arsenal‘s defensive “crisis” all boils down to one match – the upcoming one against Southampton, where they will be without Rob Holding (for the rest of the season), Shkodran Mustafi (injury and suspension) and Sokratis (suspension).

Meaning that all three starting centerbacks are unavailable and with Mavropanos still injured and his return being delayed, that means that there were really only two options – start nothing but fullbacks, or start Laurent Koscielny.

Koscielny only just returned, and he got a fun, 70 minute walk in the park against Qarabag that seemed to hint at a start against Southampton, to abate the stress caused by the minor crisis, but Unai Emery was quick to intervene and say that Koscielny starting against the second-to-last team in the Premier League table was no guarantee.

Um… actually, shouldn’t he be exactly that? A guarantee? Otherwise what is the other recourse? Start a back four full of four fullbacks? Trust it to Zech Medley when he couldn’t even be trusted to start against Qarabag? Start Jenko as a centerback?

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No. All of those options are garbage. What needs to happen, and what seems to be the only way this can happen, is to have Laurent Koscielny in the center of a back three, with Stephan Lichtsteiner to his right and Nacho Monreal to his left.

That is actually such a perfect solution that it doesn’t even feel like the traditional “makeshift,” “hodgepodge” backline because of the excessive experience in each position, and the versatility of each guy to play the exact role that is handed to them.

If a little extra padding is required, then put in a midfield three in a 3-5-2 and call it a day. I hate to downplay the opponent, but even if it wasn’t the second-to-worst team in the league, if you gave me that back three, I would feel pretty confident that it would, at the very least, not implode upon itself like a dying star. There’s too much experience there for that to happen.

And that frees up the wingbacks to do their thing, creating the most chances of any other position on the team, and even in spite of being at St. Mary’s, this match looks simple enough. But it all hinges on Koscielny being exactly what Emery said he isn’t – a certainty.