Walcott, Oxlade-Chamberlain injury status

Just when Arsenal was flying high with a pair of impressive wins, including one versus German champion Bayern Munich, tired old narrative broke through and decimated the club's right wing options in a borderline meaningless League Cup loss to Sheffield Wednesday. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Theo Walcott both had to exit the match with knocks as the fanbase waited with bated breath on their status.

Whee. So how does this affect what Arsenal can do on the pitch? Potentially one of three ways by my estimation.

First, by placing Alexis Sanchez on the right and Santi Cazorla on the left which could lead to a Flam-Coq duo in the midfield and the implosion of Arsenal Twitter. Second, by fielding Mesut Ozil on the wings and reigniting the great 4-1-4-1 debate of last year when the club obviously struggled getting the best out of its most dangerous playmaker. Third, and seemingly most likely, is by fielding a wide pairing of Sanchez and Joel Campbell, fresh off his somewhat underwhelming performance yesterday, in the hopes that the latter can hold down the fort enough for the other stars to pick up the pace.

Losing Walcott is tough, but manageable as Olivier Giroud should be able to deputize in his place. Losing the Ox is almost a bigger blow given Aaron Ramsey's injury and the lack of right wing depth. In the end, no replacement option is an optimal one and especially given that this is a pretty tough three game stretch. Swans have cooled off lately but should still present a challenge while the other two opponents speak for themselves. Hopefully Campbell, if his name is called, shows off some of that potential which has still kept him under this club's payroll for all these years.