Monthly Archives: December 2011

Thomas Vermaelen will be the person Arsene Wenger will look forward to given the defensive crisis that they have at the moment. The injury to full-back Andre Santos in the match against Olympiacos has provided them with the lack of fullbacks for at least a month.

The crucial Christmas fixture list will also determine a lot of positions at the end of the season, and this injury list could have left Arsenal with a lot of problems to deal with the end of the season. However, it seems that Thomas Vermaelen has stepped up to the plate after Arsene Wenger confirmed that the Belgian international will be used as the left back for three important matches.

Arsenal’s other full-back Kieran Gibbs is currently out with an injury, which will keep him out at least for the next 10 days or so. Hence, Thomas Vermaelen is going to deputise Kieran Gibbs and Andre Santos in the matches against Everton, Manchester City, and Aston Villa. These are highly crucial matches for Arsenal in both the context of the title race and also in their ability to finish within the Champions League qualification spots. Arsenal used their inexperienced defender Ignasi Miquel in the Champions League match against Olympiacos, but he is unlikely to play given the importance of these matches.

Thomas Vermaelen has played as the left back on a few occasions, but on each of them, he has been able to accommodate due to the fact that he had to just fill in for a few minutes. It remains to be seen if he can actually handle the pressure involved in handling the likes of Adam Johnson and Charles N’Zogbia in the upcoming weeks. Manchester City visit Arsenal on 18th December and they will be facing Aston Villa as part of the Christmas fixture list.
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