Ex-Arsenal defender Martin Keown has stated that his former side are currently not in the strongest positions in the midfield area.

Arsenal continued their pursuit of the Premier League title with a hard fought 3-1 victory over Bournemouth and although the Gunners were not at their best during the clash, fans would surely have been pleased with the club’s ability to grind out the desired result.

That said, rivals such as Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City are all in blistering form at the moment and Arsenal perhaps need to step up their game as well as earn the right result in order to potentially avoid losing crucial points during the upcoming busy festive period.

Arsenal legend Martin Keown is pleased with how things are going for Arsenal currently but at the same time, the former defender has gone on to express his concerns regarding the Gunners’ current midfield options.

The 50-year-old explained that the absence of injured Santi Cazorla leaves a big void for Arsenal at the middle of the park and then stated his belief that Jack Wilshere could have been a good choice to deal with the current injury problems in midfield.

Keown told the BBC (via the Metro), “To look at their team, to look at the compartments, you’d say their defence looks solid, you’d say the top three look pretty decent, the midfield is a concern, it’s a worry.

Midfield Crisis for Arsenal?

“It’s ironic that Jack Wilshere is sitting in the stand [against Bournemouth]. Maybe he would have been the answer this season but of course he’s on loan to Bournemouth.

“It was a gamble (letting Wilshere go on loan). I know why Jack went, he has to play football and get back playing. I just feel now if you’re not going to play [Granit] Xhaka there’s a massive hole in that Arsenal midfield when Cazorla’s not there.”

Arsenal are admittedly not the same fluid force without Cazorla in the starting lineup but Wenger does have very good midfield options in Mohamed Elneny, Granit Xhaka and Francis Coquelin and it has to be said that Keown’s concern is a bit strange.