Unai Emery has revealed that he would like to bring in a new defender during the January transfer window.

Injuries and suspensions have hit Arsenal so much in recent weeks that Emery faces having to use two full-backs, Nacho Monreal and Stephan Lichtsteiner, as a centre-back pairing against Southampton on Sunday in the Premier league.

That is down to the fact that both Sokratis and Shkodran Mustafi are suspended for the trip to St Mary's, having picked up their fifth booking of the season against Huddersfield last weekend, and Rob Holding is injured.

Holding, who was in such impressive form, will not play again this season due to a ruptured cruciate ligament in his left knee and that has left Arsenal very short in terms of cover in the heart of their defence.

Laurent Koscielny is fit again after six months out with a ruptured Achilles and is due to start his first first-team game of the season on Thursday night against Qarabag in the Europa League.

But Arsenal are well aware that at 33 and after such a serious injury, they can’t rely too heavily on Koscielny and must manage his workload carefully over the coming months.

And the same goes for Konstantinos Mavropanos, who has also not played this season due to groin injury.

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So Emery admits he is looking towards the transfer market to bolster his options, although he admits bringing someone in once the window opens might prove difficult.

“If we can take one player to help us at centre-back, I think it’s a good option,” said Arsenal’s head coach. “But the transfer is not easy."

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Arsenal are believed to hold an interest in Manchester United centre-back Eric Bailly while there have also been recent links with a possible loan move for Gary Cahill, who is out of favour at Chelsea.

But whilst admitting he would like to add to his squad, Emery insists he does have options within the club who can provide cover to Sokratis and Mustafi.

He said: “Koscielny is coming back and for the team it’s very important he is coming back and then we are going to wait and see how Mavropanos is improving with his injuries, because he is also a centre back who can help us.

“Nacho Monreal and Lichtsteiner can play in this position. But I prefer to use, if we can, a specific centre-back.”

Arsenal do have Calum Chambers currently out on loan at Fulham, where he is spending the season on loan.

But Premier League rules state that the defender will not be able to recalled from that loan early, meaning he will stay at Craven Cottage for the remainder of the campaign.

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