da fezbet： Arsenal’s u-23s were put to the sword on Monday evening by Derby County, suffering a heavy 5-0 defeat.
da esoccer bet： One wouldn’t think that a Premier League 2 team that has someone like Laurent Koscielny as a centre-back would suffer under pressure, although the Arsenal captain, who made his first appearance in an Arsenal shirt since May, was subbed off as a precaution at half-time.
At that stage Freddie Ljungberg’s youngsters were only 1-0 down but what followed in the second-half shows that Arsenal need to add to their first-team squad in order to find a balance in the club between the different age groups.
The U23s were without some of their main players, who were called up by Unai Emery ahead of Thursday’s Europa League clash at Vorskla.
But, although Emery has used the likes of Eddie Nketiah and Emile Smith-Rowe from the start of the competition, injuries in his squad has had an effect on the rest of the club. Alexandre Lacazette and Stephan Lichtsteiner are a doubt for Thursday’s match due to small niggles, while Danny Welbeck and Nacho Monreal are both not available due to longer injury layoffs.
Koscielny and Konstantinos Mavropanos’ absence has also not helped the cause and has the club been forced to call on Julio Pleguezuelo to add cover at centre-back ahead of the match with Vorskla, while Smith-Rowe and Nketiah could feature in order to provide some regular starters with a rest ahead of Sunday’s North London Derby.
All these factors sound like one big confusing setup but the bottom line is that the Gunners will need to drastically make additions in the upcoming January transfer market, as well as next summer’s transfer window, if Emery wants the complete squad to pose a real challenge in all competitions.
The manager has been able to work his rotation system to great effect so far this season but with still a long way to go, the squad could become even thinner if some players are overplayed.