Arsene Wenger admits that he has a midfield muddle to solve ahead of Arsenal’s trip to Norwich tomorrow.
The Gunners are going through a midfield crisis because of injuries to club captain Mikel Arteta and Francis Coquelin, and Wenger has some serious thinking to do ahead of their Norwich trip.
With Aaron Ramsey returning from injury, the Frenchman has one more option for his midfield and while the Welshman can play in a deep role, the Arsenal boss remains reluctant to use him.
He believes a midfield two of Ramsey and Santi Cazorla is too attack minded and could send the balance out of kilter, therefore, the Frenchman remains in a state of flux when it comes to choosing his midfielders.
"He [Ramsey] can do [the deeper role]", Wenger told the club’s official website.
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"It is not that he cannot do it, but he can do it [more effectively] with Coquelin. Cazorla can [play alongside] Coquelin.
"Cazorla and Ramsey is a bit [attack-minded] and you know in my mind I have seen that the turn of our results last season was when I went for a bit of stability and put Coquelin in there.
"Now I am a bit cautious on that front and I do not want to unbalance the team.”
He admits that losing Coquelin was painful, but also believes Arteta’s injury came at a wrong time as he now might have to compromise with the balance of his midfield for their Norwich trip.
"Arteta is not a Coquelin-type but he is a tactical player who loves to sit now because he is less [focused on] going forward.
"In my mind I always had Arteta and Flamini and Coquelin. But Arteta was injured so I played always Coquelin. Now with Arteta and Coquelin both injured we are of course a bit short.”
Arsenal lost at West Brom last weekend and despite their injury problems, the Gunners need all three points against Norwich to keep pace with other title contenders.
