Rob Holding and Shkodran Mustafi could pair up in the centre of Arsenal’s defence across three competitions in the coming weeks if the injury that forced Sokratis off the field on Sunday proves serious.
The Greece international was subbed off in the first half of the 2-0 win over Everton after sustaining a knock to his knee following a late challenge on Theo Walcott.
The summer signing, who was booked for the foul, initially tried to play through the pain but was replaced by Holding on 39 minutes.
In his absence, the Gunners, courtesy of an expert display by Petr Cech, held on to claim their first clean sheet of the season.
As a result of Sokrati’s knock, Unai Emery has something of a selection headache ahead of Wednesday’s Carabao Cup game with Brentford. Does he stick with Mustafi and Holding despite the competition being a lower priority? Or, in the absence of Dinos Mavropanos who is said to be nursing a groin problem, does he throw another youngster into the fray.
We’re not really sure what the deal is with our younger Greek, he wasn’t part of the squad to face Vorskla and the medical team haven’t included any details about him in their medical bulletins.
Julio Pleguezuelo, 21, might have been a potential option to fill-in but he also picked up an injury playing for Freddie Ljungberg’s under-23s in their 4-0 win over Liverpool.
Arsenal have four games in the next two weeks. After Brentford we face Watford at home in the Premier League, then trips to Azerbaijan side Qarabag in Baku and Fulham.