Arsenal are facing up to the prospect of not only being without William Saliba against Manchester City on Wednesday night, but the remainder of the season too.
Of course, with a trip to the Etihad Stadium - in a huge game that has Premier League title implications on it - the most pressing concern, this is hardly the ideal preparation for a Gunners side that have struggled defensively of late and haven't kept a clean sheet since the 3-0 win over Fulham last month.
Furthermore, when taking into account that City have been free-scoring recently (putting four past Liverpool and three past Bayern Munich at home), Arsenal's defence will surely face another tough examination and they won't be able to call upon Saliba in an attempt to shore things up.
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For Mikel Arteta to end the Gunners' Etihad hoodoo and open up an eight-point lead over Man City at the top of the table, ideally he would need to be in a position where he can name his strongest line-up. Yet that won't be the case as the Frenchman is still sidelined with a back injury.
As a result, the most obvious candidate to continue in Saliba's absence is Rob Holding. This has been the case for the past five games and having not started in the league up until the Crystal Palace game last month, his performances have been hailed by the Arsenal manager.
"It's not easy to do that when you just throw Rob in after a few months of inactivity at this level, but I thought he was exceptional. I’m really happy," Arteta said. "We need everybody. We've had long-term injuries and the team needs to somehow find a way to keep winning and keep performing."
However, given that Holding did have his hands full with Erling Haaland in the FA Cup meeting between the two sides in January and ultimately was withdrawn at half-time, tweaking the system and using him in a back three for extra protection is an option for Arteta on Wednesday.
This could result in a recall for Kieran Tierney as the left-sided central defender after there was a reminder of his quality in this particular role for Scotland recently as Steve Clarke's previous bold claim that the 25-year-old is 'the best overlapping centre-back in the world' didn't look out of place.
Although Arteta has favoured a back four this season and therefore some supporters are calling for Benjamin White to replace Holding and be reunited with Gabriel Magalhaes. But following a season-ending injury for Takehiro Tomiyasu there's no standout option for the right-back slot.
With that said, Thomas Partey did see out the closing stages of the 4-1 win over Crystal Palace at right-back and if Arteta was to make this change it would open up a space in midfield which in turn could be taken by Jorginho, whose experience at this stage of the season will be key.
Jakub Kiwior partnering Gabriel is another option, albeit an unlikely one as both defenders are left-footed, whilst handing Reuell Walters a competitive debut in a game of huge importance and at the Etihad Stadium could do more harm than good for the youngster's development.
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