It's not so long ago that the full-back positions seemed to be ones of real depth at Arsenal. At left back the Gunners had the excellent Kieran Tierney backed up by under-21 registerable prospect Nuno Tavares, while Sead Kolasinac was not an option that Mikel Arteta was afraid to use in the early part of this campaign.
Over on the right deadline day signing Takehiro Tomiyasu was competing with Cedric Soares, while Calum Chambers remained a viable option. Both these sides were supplemented by the versatility of Ainsley Maitland-Niles and it seemed like this area of the squad was relatively disaster proof. Things though have changed very quickly.
After being knocked out of both cup competitions in January and with no European football for the first time in 25 years Arsenal embarked on a campaign of moving on those who were viewed as surplus to requirements. This saw Kolasinac, Chambers and Maitland-Niles all allowed to leave the club as Arteta focused on creating a tight knit group around London Colney united by the shared objective of finishing in the top four.
