Well many people described Per Mertesacker as a traffic pylon particularly in his first season or so with the Gunners but in recent times there has been much less criticism of the German, World Cup winning central defender. That seems to have changed again after the recent peformances from the defender such as the defeat to Monaco in the Champions League where it seems like he was widely viewed as one of the reasons why Arsenal went down to such an embarassing defeat.

Arsene Wenger is not one to suddenly become disloyal to players he trusts but maybe it is time to sit the big man down for a good while so he can reflect on his game. This seems like an great idea when you consider that Gabriel Paulista is looking good in an Arsenal shirt and is a much more mobile defender and performed excellently yesterday vs Everton when he replaced the German.

Mertesacker may well benefit from a period of reflection on his game plus he probably could do with a rest after his long season last year and then maybe he can return for the last games of this season refreshed and ready to perform if required. At some point you have to give Gabriel a run of games and Mertesacker may have forced Wenger into giving the Brazilian the opportunity to replace the German defender on a more permanent basis.