Arsenal’s Options for Aaron Ramsey’s Temporary Replacement
Who will Wenger choose to replace the Welsh Wizard while he is injured?

Even if Arsenal’s triumphant 3-1 victory against West Ham boosted them into first place in the Premier League, it definitely didn’t come without sacrifice. Midfielder Aaron Ramsey suffered a serious muscle injury to his thigh with just around 25 minutes left of the game against West Ham.

Ramsey has undoubtedly been one of Arsenal’s best players this season. With 13 goals in all competitions, the Welsh Wizard is the Gunners top scorer as well. Bwin.com reports that the Welshman turned out for Arsenal 47 times last season, making him a consistent performer for the team and one which would prove a safe bet for any sports fans prior to his injury. In addition to Ramsey’s efforts, Arsenal has managed to score the first goal in the league this season more than any of the other football clubs, with 13 openers in 16 matches. It’s a shame that Ramsey will be taking a leave of absence from the pitch as his odds for scoring the first goal were very much in the favour of the betting man. In a recent interview Arsenal Manager Arsene Wenger confirmed the seriousness of the Welshman’s muscle injury and reiterated that he wouldn’t be in contention for a while.

“It looks (serious),” Arsene Wenger disclosed on Arsenal.com. “It looks like a thigh strain. I don’t know how serious the thigh strain is…I don’t know how long he will be out for.”

However, in a recent update on Ramsey’s injury, it would seem that the midfielder would be absent for 3 weeks to rest his injured leg. Currently, the betting industry predicts that with the Welsh Wizard’s absence, the Gunners odds to win the premier league was at 4/1.

During Ramsey’s absence, one of the players that Arsenal can replace him with is German veteran Podolski, just like what the team did in the previous match, thus moving Santi Cazorla into an attacking central midfield role.

After winning against West Ham, Wenger expressed a few opinions on Arsenal.com:
“On the pitch we had Podolski and Walcott and Giroud and Ozil and Cazorla you know when you lose the ball you can be a bit vulnerable but we had to go for it.”
From a defensive point, Wenger may have some reservations replacing Ramsey with Podolski with Wenger likely concerned with balancing the team defensively. Perhaps the Gunners’ relief will come in the form of Mathieu Flamini, Jack Wilshere, or perhaps Laurent Koscielny. Centre back Koscielny has just returned from an injury in the latest match with West Ham and seemed to be near to his best, once more. Koscielny has been a consistent player for Arsenal and his collaboration with Mertesacker on the field has been really great, again this season.