Arsenal’s worsening defensive injury crisis may force Arteta to start Tierney against Monaco

It’s safe to say we’re yet again in another injury crisis.

Key injuries in our defensive unit has been the point of discussion in recent games, even prior to the one all draw against Fulham on Sunday. Key players were missing even in our win against United but its damaging effects were exacerbated by the subsequent draw to Fulham.

We fielded a completely different backline in both encounters, further disrupting a defense that has been a solid foundation in the last few years. We would have been right to think that it could only get better on that front, but developments ahead of the Monaco game have further dented the mood.

Jurrien Timber and Thomas Partey were absent in Tuesday’s training session ahead of the UCL clash, much to the despair of gooners. The pair started at both fullback slots against Fulham, but now it seems we’ll be stretched paper thin at the back in the wake of this news.

It will be all so very frustrating that this sort of crisis has happened to us twice in a very short space of time. Not too long ago, we were faced with a similar challenge but this one is very unique, the injuries are almost exclusively to our defenders and that should be a huge concern.

If the pair of Timber and Partey do miss out on the Monaco game, they will join the long list of players including Gabriel Magalhães, Riccardo Calafiori, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Benjamin White and Oleksandr Zinchenko who we won’t be able call upon.

This will leave us with just three senior defenders at our disposal, sparking a nightmarish scenario for Mikel Arteta.The only bare positive that will be coming from this is a potential chance for Kieran Tierney to show us what he can still do.

He will start against Monaco if the pair don’t make the starting lineup which will mean a first appearance in well over a year for us.

This is not ideal in any way but do any of you think we will keep a clean sheet tonight?