Arsenal: Unai Emery managerial chops challenged by depleted defence

Arsenal are enduring an injury crisis in their defensive rankings, the latest being Nacho Monreal to hobble off on Saturday. Unai Emery’s managerial chops are most certainly being tested.

Arsenal are dealing with a defensive injury crisis. They have been dealing with it for some time. It started last weekend against Southampton: Sokratis and Shkodran Mustafi suspended forced Unai Emery to rush Laurent Koscielny back from injury and pair him with a right-back and central midfielder in a back three. Predictably, it did not go very well.

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Prior to the same game, Sead Kolasinac suffered a thigh problem in training, Hector Bellerin was forced off at half-time, and Stephan Lichtsteiner followed in the second half. Now, a week later, those same players are still dealing with some injuries, although Kolasinac started against Burnley, but they have been joined by Nacho Monreal.

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After the 3-1 win over Burnley, Emery addressed the Monreal problem and the growing injury calamity in the defence:

"“It’s starting to be a muscular problem and we decided to change and not take more risks with him. But I hope it’s not big and I hope he can be with us next week. I don’t know if he can play at Brighton, but we can play, I think, [Laurent] Koscielny. Also [Shkodran] Mustafi is close to coming with us. We can take more injuries but we can also recover more players.”"

As of writing, these are the fit defenders that Emery definitely has available to him for the Boxing Day match against Brighton and Hove Albion: Stephan Lichtsteiner, Sokratis, Laurent Koscielny, Sead Kolasinac. Of those four, three have dealt with injuries in the past week, with Koscielny still acclimatising to first-team football after seven months on the sidelines with a ruptured Achilles.

Emery could have Shkodran Mustafi available again, as eluded to in his post-match press conference, and Bellerin and Monreal are not long-term injuries. Nevertheless, with Rob Holding and Konstantinos Mavropanos out for the foreseeable future, even short-term problems begin to test the depth of the squad.

It is clear that Emery’s managerial chops are being challenged by this defensive crisis. And, although the losses to Southampton and Spurs were a little concerning with some defensive vulnerabilities present, Emery has navigated these rather stormy waters quite well. Granit Xhaka has been serviceable at centre-back. Ainsley Maitland-Niles has filled in well at full-back.

Can Arsenal go to Liverpool on the 29th and expect to win with such a depleted defence? Not really. It will be extremely difficult. But can they continue to eek out points against the likes of Burnley, Brighton and Huddersfield, as they have done and will hope to do? Yes, absolutely. And, sometimes, in situations like these, that is all you can ask for from a manager. To survive.

This ultimately all points to one very clear need: Arsenal to invest in their defence, both in the starting quality and in the depth. But, for now, Emery just has to get through. And so far, he is not too badly.