Arsenal face a difficult situation on Saturday afternoon, as Mikel Arteta takes his side to face Aston Villa for a second game in the Midlands in a matter of days.
The Gunners lost 2-1 at Wolverhampton Wanderers in midweek, and will now have to face Villa without first-choice goalkeeper Bernd Leno.
Leno was given a straight red card for a bizarre handball outside of his area against Wolves, and will now miss this weekend’s game at Villa.
Arsenal made a move to protect themselves against this kind of issue by signing Mat Ryan on loan from Brighton and Hove Albion last month, but he is now injured.
That now means that Runar Runarsson – who has struggled with the Gunners and was even available for loan in January according to David Ornstein – may now have to start.
This is far from ideal for Arsenal, and they will be given a reminder of the summer decision they made as Emiliano Martinez will start against them for Villa.
The Argentinian was sold by Arsenal over the summer, with Runarsson then snapped up as his replacment; he didn’t fare well enough, so that’s why Ryan was brought in.
Martinez may have had a difficult night against West Ham on Wednesday, but he remains a quality goalkeeper and has been outstanding this season.
As Arsenal face a goalkeeping crisis this weekend, Martinez will be showing them what they’re missing.
Keeping him just didn’t seem possible as he wanted consistent first-team football, but they will certainly go into this weekend’s game without a stopper of his quality, with the 27-year-old not suitably replaced with Runarsson.
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