Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta is set to be working without a single right-back for Saturday's Premier League game with Brighton & Hove Albion after Jurrien Timber's milestone yellow card in their 3-1 win over Brentford.
The Gunners fought back from a goal down to overcome the Bees at the Gtech Community Stadium rising back up to second in the top-flight table above Nottingham Forest in the process.
Gabriel Jesus, Mikel Merino and Gabriel Martinelli cancelled out Bryan Mbeumo's opening goal in the New Year's Day London derby, but it was far from the perfect evening for Arteta and co.
With just 17 minutes gone, Timber received the game's first yellow card for a foul, his fifth of the season and one that therefore rules him out of the visit of the Seagulls through suspension.
Any player who receives five cautions in a team's first 19 games of a season is automatically suspended for the team's next match; Arsenal's win over Brentford was their 19th match of the campaign, meaning that Timber would have avoided a ban had he been booked against Brighton instead.
Will Partey be forced to play right-back against Brighton?
The Netherlands international has been a fundamental figure in the Arsenal backline since recovering from an ACL injury, and for the past several weeks, he has often been the only fit right-back in Arteta's ranks.
Ben White and Takehiro Tomiyasu are both on the mend from long-term knee problems, and neither will be ready to feature against the Seagulls this weekend, thereby depriving Arteta of a single senior right-back.
As a result, the Gunners boss can be expected to move Thomas Partey into a makeshift right-back role, as he has already done in Arsenal's clashes with Southampton, Liverpool, Newcastle United and Fulham this season.
Partey linked arms with Merino and Martin Odegaard in midfield at the Gtech Community Stadium, as Declan Rice was dropped from the starting XI after picking up a niggle in the recent 1-0 win over Ipswich Town.
However, Rice was fit enough to come off the bench in the second half and is therefore expected to be fine to start the weekend's clash with Brighton, thereby allowing Partey to drop into a right-back role.
Could Arteta start a youth product at right-back?
The consensus among Gooners is that the 31-year-old playing at right-back affects the balance of the team, as Arsenal have only won one of their four games when Partey has deputised in that unfamiliar role.
Arteta likely feels that he has no other choice but to deploy Partey as an emergency right-back, as the only other viable option in his ranks is 18-year-old academy graduate Joshua Nichols.
The 2006-born talent made his senior Arsenal debut in their 5-1 EFL Cup thrashing of Bolton Wanderers earlier this season and has also made the bench for three Premier League games, but he is yet to earn any minutes in England's top flight.
The Gunners coincidentally sold one of their other right-back options on Wednesday, as Josh Robinson became their first departure of the January window, joining Wigan Athletic on a permanent deal. body check tags ::
