Last season we had spells with injuries across the defence, and we now have an injury to Gibbs and Sagna is already out. Thats both first choice full backs injured. Last season when that happened we had other injuries to the CB's as well though, but the main difference is this year I feel more confident in the back up full backs, Jenko and Santos, who have had a year to get used to the PL. At this time last year most Arsenal fans were questioning why Wenger had brought in Jenkinson and Santos looked slow and unable to cope with the PL. Now theyve both had a year to get used to the PL I feel quite confident that they can do a good job in place of Sagna and Gibbs, and Jenko has even earned himself a rumoured England call up, who on here would honestly be able to say they saw that coming a year ago? We have better strength on depth in other areas as well, with the discussions about what our best CB pairing is proving the point. So all in all Im happier about the depth of the squad in all areas except CM.
Jenkinson has been one of our stand out players this season. I like the way he does the simple things very effectively. He is growing in confidence too and is only going to get better. Santos can be a bit wayward positionally, but contrary to some opinions, I think he can defend very well. He is strong and skillful and also offers a lot going forward. As you mention, I'm a lot more confident about our defensive options this season than I was when we had injuries there last season
