Walcott needs replacing - and not by Eboue

Theo Walcott's probable 3 month lay-off, having dislocated his right shoulder during a training session for England on Tuesday evening, represents a big headache for Arsene Wenger but an even bigger one for Arsenal fans.

First off, make no mistake that a dislocated shoulder is a potentially serious injury for any player, even more so a player who has a genetic predisposition to getting injured in that joint area.

Walcott's left shoulder was pinned together in 2007, and as we saw several weeks ago when the player was carted off against Stoke, it only takes the slightest fall to aggravate the area and sideline the player for several weeks.

Anyone who has had a dislocated shoulder will know that surgery takes a long time to recover from and the operation is not fail safe. Make no mistake, there is a very real chance that injuries to Walcott's flawed upper body will haunt him throughout his career.

Why does this represent a bigger problem for Arsenal fans than Arsene Wenger? Because Wenger has a history of muddling on, hoping for the best. On top of that, an already physically-weak midfield has now been robbed of all of its pace - and the only player capable of playing in Walcott's position is the wretched Emanuelle Eboue.

Once again, Arsenal's squad depth has been cruelly exposed.

I would suggest Wenger gets serious about buying a right-sided midfielder either in January or in the summer, as continually weakening team performances by playing already inept central midfielders out wide - or Emanuelle Eboue - will only cause the team long term damage.

On Saturday, Arsenal travel to  Manchester City for their 14th Premier League game of the season. Manchester City are on a dire run of form. They have won only 1 of their last 7, including 3 defeats in their last four games agaist Middlesbrough, Bolton and Tottenham.

Manager Mark Hughes, or "dead man walking" as I prefer to call him, is struggling to gel the belated gifts that his mega-rich Arab owners bought for him in the summer.

He also has defensive problems. Richard Dunne, voted City's player of the season three years running is going through the worst period of his career - making colossal mistakes on a weekly basis. And England's bright young defensive starlet Micah Richards career has also taken a sharp downturn; the player is unrecognisable from the one we saw lording it in the England team last season.

As we know, any team that is able to get organised and defend in numbers can beat Arsenal - and any team that doesn't open themselves up to a beating. Can Manchester get organised and defend in numbers? They're no Aston Villa that's for sure. In midfield and up front they simply do not possess the type of  players who will show unbounding commitment to playing a high tempo pressing game - Elano, Ireland, Wright-Phillips, Jo, Robinho, Petrov. Only Fernandes Gelson will get stuck in, or Dietmar Hamann, perhaps, but he's 35 and way past his best.

This will be a very interesting game if only to see what dead man walking has the balls to do in front of his impatient Arab superiors watching in the stands - make no mistake, they will be using this game as a barometer - to measure their manager.

At the moment, Man City are going for it and conceding two in every match. Theoretically, Hughes should play 4-5-1 and drop Robinho or Jo, although whether he has the guts to do that is another thing. Like Arsenal I can't see them doing anything but go for it, which means Arsenal have a great chance of pulling off a result. One thing's for sure, if a team with as many attacking players as Man City can manage to play 4-5-1 and STILL negate Arsenal, then you can start worrying about whether the Gunners are capable of achieving a UEFA Cup spot.

What will Arsenal's line up be? Well, losing Walcott weakens the team slightly - particularly as a counter-attacking force on the road. Wenger received criticism for submitting a 4-5-1 formation at home to Aston Villa last weekend, but this current team is so exposed in midfield that I can't see Wenger playing any other system in Manchester.

Expect to see Adebayor playing the lone role up front, with a midfield five of Eboue, Denilson, Song (replacing the suspended Fabregas), Diaby and Nasri. Djourou might come in for Silvestre - as Wenger has been bigging the youngster up on Arsenal's official site this week. Toure will come in as a straight replacement for Sagna.

I can see Arsenal vs Manchester City being a Fenerbahce-type away game. End to end, both teams a defensive shambles, with whoever finishes the most clinically stealing the points.

Go down the bookies and put a bet on at least 3 goals, although the odds are unlikely to be too generous.