Who should be Arsenal’s first choice defensive pairing?

Thomas Vermaelen made his much awaited come-back against Bolton in the Carling Cup a few days back and followed it up with a substitute appearance against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge last Saturday.

The Belgian managed to play the full 90 minutes against Marseille on Tuesday and looked comfortable. He was playing alongside Per Mertesacker at the back for the first time in his career, but you would’ve never thought it, such was the performance that night – Laurent Koscielny was given a much needed rest in midweek.

Vermaelen had this to say when asked about playing with the giant German:

‘It was the first time for me to play with Per and I have not been training with him a lot, maybe once for a few minutes. Of course, for me it is not a problem as I have watched him play alongside Laurent. I think that you have to be professional enough to cope with that. You have to play with everybody.’

In the first 5 games (in all competitions) of the season, Arsenal had used three different combinations at the centre of defence; this was because of injuries to two of the clubs main centre-backs – Vermaelen and Koscielny. Since the restart, after the September international break, the first choice pairing has been Koscielny and Mertesacker. The pair have played together at the back up until the Marseille game.

Needless to say, Koscielny and Mertesacker have improved so much since the Swansea game. Suddenly, after watching the danger-sniffer Vermaelen play against Marseille, Wenger has got a big decision to make as to which two will feature at the heart of the defence against West Brom and for the foreseeable future. As a matter of fact, Arsenal have used SEVEN different pairings this year, but this is the first time since August 2010 we have had so many fit centre-backs to choose from. However, surely the preferred are ones are Koscielny, Vermaelen and Mertesacker.

So who should be the first choice pairing?

Vermaelen himself agrees that he doesn’t know whether he is an automatic starter anymore:

‘It is difficult to talk about a partnership as we have five centre-backs and it is up to the boss who plays. We know each other’s qualities and if I play with Per, Laurent, Djourou or Squillaci or if I don’t play, you have to cope with it every game.’

As Arsene Wenger continues to delay making a decision, many see the Frenchman casting doubts over Vermaelen. It is certainly nothing like that though. Everyone knows how fragile Vermaelen has been in the past year. Logically speaking, Wenger should restore the Koscielny-Mertesacker pairing during the weekend, purely because two games in the space of five days will be hard for a guy who is coming back from repeated lay-offs.

The biggest confusion in the mind of Wenger should be this – he wouldn’t want to drop Mertesacker because of a certain reason. Even though the German’s movement is slow, his height has certainly given us a boost. It was evident against Marseille. He was consistently heading balls away, but few might ask why he couldn’t prevent Lampard or Terry from scoring last weekend. Well, the players he came up against Chelsea are proven Premier League quality even though they aren’t in a good run of form. So he needs more time to adapt.

The below statement clearly suggests that Wenger hasn’t made up his mind yet:

‘The balance is vital. In fairness though, I must say that all the three can play with each other. Koscielny and Vermaelen can play together and Mertesacker can play with Vermaelen and Koscielny. It gives us a bit of an opportunity to rotate a bit when needed and people are tired. Ideally, Vermaelen will play on the left [of the centre-back pair]. But Koscielny can play on the left as well so we have a good potential and balance there. I think that all the three can play at any moment.’

I honestly feel that Koscielny and Mertesacker should be the first choice pairing up until December, and Vermaelen should play alternate games. Playing like this should give the Belgian international’s fitness a huge boost and as such would be fit and raring to go during the last few months of the season.

So, who should be Arsenal’s first choice defensive pairing?

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