Arsenal lost their invincibility after 22 games as they were narrowly defeated by Southampton in an enthralling 5-goal encounter.
Unai Emery was defeated just twice prior to Sunday’s game, however, his impressive run of form was halted by the Saints.
The Gunners defence were in shambles throughout the night. This is as a result of injuries to most of their natural centre-backs.
Rob Holding is ruled out of the season(due to injury) while Shkodran Mustafi and Sokratis Papastathopoulos were serving their respective suspension.
This left the former Sevilla manager with no other option but to come up at a patchy defensive formation.
Granit Xhaka, Stephan Lichtsteiner and Laurent Kolscieny were made to start in a three-man defence but that decision tuned out to be the worst Emery has made since his move to Emirates stadium.
The Gunners conceded three headed goals for the first time this season as Kolscieny and Lichtsteiner looked too old to cope with Danny Ings and Charlie Austin’s aerial strength.
Xkaha was played out of position, hence, there is little he could do to help the team at the back.
Kolscieny, especially, was far from convincing as he marks his return to the starting lineup for the first since his grievous injury.
Emery needs to act fast by getting Holding’s replacement
The centre-back positions need to be occupied by a quality player like Rob Holding or any player better than the youngster.
Having seen how the team fared against the Saints, it is clear enough for Emery to see that he must be involved in the upcoming winter market in search of a centre-back ASAP.
He was reportedly linked with a move for Manchester United’s outcast Eric Bailly, but it is yet to be seen if there’s any truth in the speculations.
Chelsea and England’s experienced defender Gary Cahill is equally linked with Arsenal’s switch.
According to the Mirror in one of their last week’s transfer rumours, the England international is looking at the prospect of signing with the Gunners in January as desperately wants to be actively involved in League for the rest of the season.
Unai Emery must fix the defence as soon as possible, he can’t afford to see his player’s repeat such erroneous display for the rest of the campaign.
If the former Sevilla and Paris St-German boss must leapfrog Chelsea in the race for a top-four finish, he should be ready to upgrade his defensive setup as soon as the transfer market begins
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