Filed under: Arsenal, Premier League, Football
Arsenal's appetite for the visit of Manchester United on May 1 disappeared the moment Tamir Cohen headed Bolton's winner at the Reebok Stadium six days earlier.At that moment a game that was once likely to be a title decider became a potential title shoo-in and even if Arsenal do manage to upset United's march towards the championship, victory will come at the cost of opening the door for Chelsea to make a late charge. Lose, lose, then.
Gunners' eyes, therefore, may be better advised to focus on the reserves trip to Old Trafford today, Thursday, when Thomas Vermaelen is expected to make his first return to action since suffering an Achilles injury in September.
To say the Belgium centre back has been missed is an understatement. Indeed, to say Arsenal might be going into the weekend meeting with Sir Alex Ferguson's side as title favourites had the initial prediction that Vermaelen would be out for just six weeks had proved correct is no overstatement.
The lack of leadership and authority at the heart of the defence has been apparent throughout the season and has cost Arsene Wenger's side so many times, most people have given up counting.
Without Vermaelen, Wenger has relied on two centre backs playing in the Premier League for the first time and another easing his way back from long-term injury.
Of the former, Laurent Koscielny has improved after a difficult start although his mistake in the Carling Cup final against Birmingham will define in his first season in England while Sebastien Squillaci has simply not been up to it. Johan Djourou, meanwhile, has surpassed expectations although he was very poor at Bolton.
Only Wenger would regard such a weak roster as the foundation of a title-winning side, particularly after four experienced centre backs - William Gallas, Mikael Silvestre, Sol Campbell and Philippe Senderos - left the club last summer.
The most telling criticism of Wenger, however, is directed at his failure to recruit cover for Vermaelen. To lose the defender to injury was unfortunate, but the manager's failure to act when it became clear the defender's injury was much worse than anticipated was an error of judgement.
Wenger even admitted he needed to act in January when Vermaelen revealed he had no idea when he would be back, but a run of positive results appeared to scrub the item from the manager's agenda.
Then, three months later in the wake of the Bolton defeat, the Frenchman was forced to concede his side's defensive weaknesses. Cue a deafening chorus of 'I told you so'.
Vermaelen won't appear in the Premier League game this weekend but it is hoped he will feature in at least one of the remaining games. That will give the club a lift after a chastening few weeks.
And Arsenal supporters must hope it will remind Wenger of the lack of depth in defence rather divert his attention to other areas of the squad.
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Source: http://www.fanhouse.co.uk/2011/04/28/premier-league-arsenal-arsene-wenger-thomas-vermaelen-return/
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