The gaping hole in Arsenal's defence

Arsenal have splashed the cash over the past few seasons to bring in a host of talent such as Özil, Alexis, Cech, Mustafi, Xhaka, Kolasinac and Lacazette. Player for player Arsenal's first squad should stand eye to eye with any other team in the league but is there a huge chink in Arsenal's armour?

Squad depth at Arsenal looks good with perhaps the most obvious hole being a lack of another playmaker in Özil's absence as Santi Cazorla is no nearer a return to first team football than he was a year ago. Casting an eye across the market suggests that most sports betting apps think Arsenal have the squad to mount an assault on the title this season - especially having signed Lacazette from Lyon for a club record fee. Arsenal are currently 14/1 to lift the title according to Bet365, while SkyBet have them as far out as 18/1. The odds are not in our favour to get into the top 4 either. 10/11 seems to be a popular price according to the bookies. Of course, there are still ways to improve the squad and perhaps the most pressing issue for Arsenal is their lack of a back up or competition for Hector Bellerin.

Having signed Kolasinac on a free transfer from Schalke--an excellent piece of business by all accounts--Wenger has plenty of options at left back, or left wing-back depending on the formation he opts to deploy. Nacho Monreal is still at the top of his game and continues to develop his abilities as a left sided centre-back in a back three, and Kieran Gibbs, should he stay, is an able and dependable understudy - and that's not to mention the potential for Cohen Bramall to break through into the first team this season.

In the centre Arsène can call on club captain, Per Mertesacker, in his final year before joining the academy set up, stalwart Laurent Koscielny, Mustafi, Gabriel, the ever impressive young Holding, potentially Calum Chambers who may or may not be on the move, and Krystian Bielik who is expected to make the step up from reserve football. Defensively Arsenal are not short on numbers but they are short on specialist right backs and right wing-backs.

Mathieu Debuchy and Carl Jenkinson are likely to move on and there is no youth player ready to make the grade as a first team squad player just yet. Perhaps the biggest indicator that Arsenal is short on personnel at right back is how often Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has been deployed at an auxillary right wing-back since the move to a three man defence.

The option remains to continue using Oxlade-Chamberlain as well as calling on a number of our centre-backs who are able to fill in there but it does highlight an inherent weakness. An injury to Bellerin and Arsenal are effectively down two players as they lose a centre-back as well as a right-back.

There's still time left in this window to bring in more players so there's no cause for panic just yet but this is a problem that should be glaring enough to be a priority. If Arsenal want to be title contenders this season they simple must have specialist cover in all positions - that means plugging the gaping hole in our defence.

Don't forget to like us on Facebook, add us to your G+ circle and follow us on Twitter.