Although Aaron Ramsey and Mikel Arteta are back from their respective injuries, and Serge Gnabry and Theo Walcott will soon be featuring in Arsenal matches, Laurent Koscielny’s injury appears to be a bit more serious than first expected.  The central defender returned to London while on international duty earlier in the month because of an achilles injury.

Ahead of Arsenal’s away match to Sunderland, manager Arsene Wenger gave an update on Koscielny’s injury.  The Frenchman stated, “I cannot give you any date (of a possible return) because we go day-by-day with him (Koscielny) at the moment.  I hope that after the next international break he will be available again.  Before that I don’t think so.”

Having already missed the last two Gunners matches because of the injury, Koscielny will now likely miss at least the next four games (Sunderland, Burnley, Anderlecht, and Swansea) before the next international break ensues.  Arsenal’s match following the international break is a league match at home against Manchester United.

With Koscielny out for at least the next four Arsenal matches, questions are being raised on who can fill the highly-rated defender’s boots at the center-back position.  Wenger has gone with Nacho Monreal during the last two matches next to the towering Per Mertesacker.  Monreal, an occasional Spain international, is naturally a left-back that is being thrown in at the center of his team’s defense.

While Monreal has not necessarily played poorly during his two games at the new position (and he has not exactly set the world on fire either), he is obviously a considerable drop-off to Koscielny. Nineteen-year-old Calum Chambers is also an option to fill-in for Koscielny; however, he has been used lately as cover for another France international defender currently injured, Mathieu Debuchy.  Chambers would most likely be a better option over Monreal at center-back if Debuchy was not injured with an ankle problem.

It seems as if Wenger has three options when choosing an alternative to the injured Koscielny:

One, the Frenchman will stick with Monreal at center-back and Chambers at right-back until his standout French defender is back.

Two, Chambers could be utilized at center-back and Wenger could deploy Spain youth international Hector Bellerin at right-back.  And…

Three, Wenger could choose to promote youngster Isaac Hayden from the team’s youth side.  Hayden certainly has potential, but has only featured in one senior level match (a Capital One Cup game) during his time with the club.

Personally, I believe Wenger will opt for some form of combination of the first two options listed above.  Monreal and Chambers will most likely rotate at center-back, giving Bellerin some time at right-back as well.  The Gunners should be able to weather the storm with Monreal and Chambers filling in for Koscielny in the short term, as the Arsenal schedule is somewhat beneficial over the next four matches; however Wenger must certainly look at the January transfer window as an opportunity to purchase a reinforcement at the center-back position.