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Mathieu Debuchy only returned from a three-month injury lay-off against Galatasaray on Tuesday
Mathieu Debuchy returned from a three-month injury lay-off against Galatasaray only on Tuesday. Photograph: Stuart Macfarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images
Mathieu Debuchy returned from a three-month injury lay-off against Galatasaray only on Tuesday. Photograph: Stuart Macfarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images

Arsenal’s growing injury list forces Mathieu Debuchy into central role

This article is more than 9 years old

Right-back makes centre-half debut against Newcastle
Koscielny and Monreal injured, Chambers suspended
Ramsey ruled out for four weeks with hamstring injury

Arsène Wenger gave Mathieu Debuchy a crash course in central defending during Arsenal’s training session on Friday and the manager is ready to press him into emergency service in the position against Newcastle United on Saturday evening.

Wenger acknowledged that Debuchy had never played at centre-half but the right-back appears to be his only option, as Calum Chambers is suspended and Laurent Koscielny and Nacho Monreal are injured.

Debuchy played for 78 minutes in the 4-1 Champions League win at Galatasaray on Tuesday night, which was his first football in three months after ankle ligament surgery, and there is added spice for him in that he joined Arsenal from Newcastle in the summer.

“Debuchy has never played there, I asked him already,” Wenger said. “The solution I have to decide will not be ideal. It will be a gamble. But there is not a massive difference between right-back and centre-back.”

Wenger will be without 12 players, with the most shuddering recent setback being that to Aaron Ramsey, who is out for four weeks with his latest hamstring strain. Ramsey had been back to his best against Galatasaray, when he scored twice, including a screamer from 35 yards, but he withdrew at half-time, after complaining of tightness in the hamstring. A subsequent scan revealed the bad news.

Wenger has recalled Francis Coquelin from his loan spell at Charlton Athletic and the midfielder, who can play at full-back, is in contention to face Newcastle.

Ramsey had suffered a hamstring problem earlier in the season, against Tottenham Hotspur on 27 September, and it was feared he would be out for up to eight weeks. He returned after three but has revealed since that he did not begin to feel physically sharp again until the match against Manchester United on 22 November.

Koscielny is another worry, and Wenger’s comments on Friday offered little in the way of reassurance. He said the centre-half had suffered a calf strain, possibly as a result of over-compensating to protect the long-standing problem in an achilles. Were it not for the calf, Wenger added, Koscielny could play against Newcastle.

However, Wenger also said the inflammation in the achilles had yet to clear and nobody knew whether it would, unless Koscielny could have two or three months of complete rest. “I have to consider the fact he has an inflamed achilles and nobody can guarantee that will not come back,” Wenger said. “No doctor says to me: ‘It’s over.’ It can come back. Even with complete rest, you need to rest him for two or three months.”

Wenger did rest Koscielny for eight weeks from early October. “But he didn’t rest completely,” Wenger said. “Because you have to load your achilles and strengthen, it is not a complete rest. To find back the strength in the achilles, you have to load it and work on it.”

Wenger’s comments on the possibility of bolstering his options in January were also illuminating on the issue of Koscielny. “If everybody is fit and available, we don’t need to go on the transfer market,” he said. “But we have to consider there could be a question mark with Koscielny’s fitness and we have to go out on the transfer market.”

Debuchy’s prospective move from right-back to central defence mirrors the path that Chambers has taken this season. Before joining Arsenal from Southampton in the summer Chambers had never played at centre-half. The 19-year-old has made errors, which Wenger conceded is inevitable in such a young player, but Debuchy at least has experience on his side.

The 29-year-old played in his normal position of right-back against Galatasaray and Friday was the first opportunity for him to practice in central defence. The squad arrived back in London at 5am on Wednesday and they had a light recovery session on Thursday.

“If you buy a defender who is 27 or 28, how much [coaching] is very little,” Wenger said. “If you develop a player, you play him at 19 or 20 – you have a real job to do. Defending is a job for experienced people. Chambers will have to make mistakes. He had 20 games in the Premier League as a right-back [at Southampton]. This season, he started as a centre-back. Overall, he has done extremely well this season. What I like is that he is not afraid to play.”

Wenger was also asked for his views on the Arsenal fans who have called for his departure and he said his priority was to concentrate on getting results. “I am not a politician who makes a poll every week to see if you support me,” Wenger said. “I am paid to win football games. My sense is to focus on my job. Society is like it is today. It’s a permanent tribunal from everybody. You have to cope with that. What is in the word supporter? Support. It says what it says.”

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