Bad news for the Swiss central defender as he is out for six months following knee surgery on Friday.
There is a discrepancy in his return time line with the Swiss FA claiming that he will be out till March and Wenger saying he should get back to action much earlier. It leaves us with Phillipe Senderos as the first option in the event either Gallas or Vermaelen are unable to play. And if both are unavailable then it will be Senderos and Silvestre or Song.
Either way, not a pleasant situation to be in, and with the season getting older, the chances of injury obviously go up. So here is hoping that Gallas and Vermaelen go relatively unscathed.