Arsene Wenger’s decision to drop Thomas Vermaelen for the last four matches has coincided with four victories including two impressive away clean sheets against German Champions Bayern Munich and League Cup winners Swansea.

Vermaelen’s absence from the starting line-up has drawn questions about the Belgian’s future at the club due to his form this season combined with interest from clubs abroad. At the start of the season, Vermaelen was Arsenal’s clear choice to be the new captain and seemingly the first choice centre half.

However, after a disappointing season and an especially poor performance in the defeat to Tottenham at White hart Lane looking like the last straw for Arsene Wenger, the preferred pairing at the back has become Laurent Koscielny and Per Mertesacker with Vermaelen being forced to watch from the side-line.

Red Card

The red card suffered by Mertesacker at the Hawthorns may well be Vermaelen’s blessing as he is now set to return to the side for the home fixture against Norwich.

It also highlighted the German’s weaknesses he faces against quick strikers such as Shane Long whereas Vermaelen’s style of defending is more suited to the problems this sort of player proposes.

Norwich, with just one away win all season and averaging less than one goal per game in the Premier League this season will be a welcome opportunity for Vermaelen to get a clean sheet under his belt and cement his place in the team for the closing stages of the season.

Time to reflect

What all Arsenal fans are hoping now is that the time on the side-lines will have reinvigorated their captain and have him coming back hungry as ever.

When Vermaelen first arrived at the club in 2009 the supporters were taken aback by his aggression and goal scoring exploits as he netted eight goals in his first season. It seemed as if there was now a warrior in their ranks to tighten up a leaky fragile defence.

This season he has failed to register a single goal and has looked anything but intimidating as a defender.

Arsene Wenger praised the defender on his comeback performance from the bench against West Bromwich Albion, as he helped them to secure a vital win in the race for Champions League qualification and will now be hoping for his captain to return to the form that saw him nicknamed the ‘Verminator’ by the Arsenal faithful.

The Future

With yet another disappointing season coming to an end it seems most of the Arsenal squad are playing for their future in these final games.

With reports of a centre half being a top priority in the summer, Thomas Vermaelen finds himself in the situation of his place being severely under threat. Wenger and Arsenal supporters alike will be hoping this recent omission from the team will have given Vermaelen time to rest physically but most importantly, mentally. The aggression and confidence need to be there for Vermaelen if he is to be the man to captain Arsenal into what may be Arsene Wenger’s last season at the helm.

Thanks to Shane Long, Howard Webb and Per Mertesacker, he now has the chance to prove it.

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