Arsenal midfielder Francis Coquelin is confident he can fill in at centre-back amid the club's current defensive crisis, saying he has been "bossing" his new role in training.
Arsene Wenger was handed a blow this week after Per Mertesacker was ruled out for a few months with a knee injury he sustained in the club's pre-season draw against French side Lens last Friday.
The Arsenal boss admitted the German's injury would mean the club dipping into the transfer market to strengthen their options in central defence, with Gabriel missing the Gunners' pre-season tour of the US with tonsillitis and Laurent Koscielny still on an extended break following his exploits for France at Euro 2016.
With Wenger having limited options to utilise in America, defensive midfielder Coquelin has been deployed at centre-back during training and, despite normally playing further up field, admitted his new role is going well.
When the club's official Snapchat account asked what he had been focusing on in training, the 25-year old replied: "I’ve been playing centre-back and I’ve been bossing it."
Despite Coquelin's confidence in his ability to be versatile, goalkeeper Petr Cech admitted Mertesacker's injury was bad news for the Gunners.
"He is a great player, a great part of the team with his experience," he told ESPN FC.
"You cannot just replace a world champion just like that because obviously the experience of him, the games he played and he’s one of the captains. That says it all.
"We will need to make sure that the players who will get their chances to play more, they will take it and they will rise to the occasion.
"Hopefully we will be able to start the season well and once he’s fit he will come back [with the team in] a position where we all want to be."
