Aaron Ramsey pulled up with a hamstring problem against Southampton last Sunday, so how should the Gunners deal with losing him for the next few busy weeks?

Wenger confirmed that Ramsey suffered a hamstring injury at St. Mary’s Stadium.

In normal circumstances, a hamstring injury means at least three weeks out, meaning Aaron won’t be back until January at the earliest.

Here are the matches Arsenal have before then (he’s already missed West Ham and Newcastle):

• 19th December – Arsenal vs West Ham United (League Cup)
• 22nd December – Arsenal vs Liverpool (PL)
• 28th December – Crystal Palace vs Arsenal (PL)
• 31st December – West Bromwich Albion vs Arsenal (PL)

That’s six matches in total, one every three or four days, aside from the six day break for Christmas. Not a great time to lose your in-form starting midfielder. Ramsey has three goals and six assists for the Gunners this season, and he has also won two penalties.

One midfielder who certainly won’t be coming in to replace him is Santi Cazorla, who announced in late November that he was undergoing another surgery. That leaves Francis Coquelin, Granit Xhaka, Jack Wilshere and Mohamed Elneny as the remaining senior midfielders, with youth players like Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Joe Willock other alternatives. Alex Iwobi is another option, although it isn’t his best position.

If Arsenal want to stick with two in midfield, they could try utilising their senior midfielders.

The problem is which pair works best. Xhaka and Wilshere would probably be the most popular pairing with fans, but that leaves Coquelin and Elneny for the second string games. That duo is extremely unpopular, due to its creative and goalscoring shortcomings.

We’ve seen Xhaka and Elneny together before, and Coquelin and Wilshere already have experience together, so that’s a possibility, but it would leave Jack or Granit still sitting on the sidelines for important matches.

Perhaps Wenger could rotate between the different pairings, playing Xhaka and Wilshere one game, then Xhaka and Elneny the next, then Elneny and Wilshere, and so on. But that’s not something he’s done very often in the past, as it prevents players getting used to each other’s games, and learning how best to work with one another.

The only other way to make a midfield two work is to bring in one of the youth players with more threat going forward. Maitland-Niles has shown a lot of creativity and a good ability to carry the ball during his spell out of position at wing-back. Against FC Köln, for example, Ainsley created three of the team’s 11 chances and had 95% pass accuracy. He also has good experience defensively, and has won 80% of his aerial duels this Europa League campaign. So maybe he should be considered to make the step up.

A different approach could be to change formation to a three in midfield and stick with it.

With more support in midfield, Arsenal could more easily bring in youth prospects to help out, as there would be less pressure on them.

Özil could even drop back into the three, if Welbeck and Walcott are both available to play out wide opposite Sanchez.

There are lots of different options, even if none of them look quite as promising as anything with Ramsey involved.

Let’s just hope Wenger picks the right one.