Arsenal fans have had it tough with injuries over the last months. Losing one or two players is bad enough, but when you lose four or five, and they're all defenders, things start to look a lot tougher. It's looking like the Gunners will need to rely on some academy lad, and with Julio Pleguezuelo pushing through, the fans want to see him given a chance.

 

The Spanish central defender turned 22-years-old yesterday and as Arsenal's Academy Twitter account posted a birthday message for the defender, plenty of Gunners were on hand to call for Emery to give him a chance in the first-team. Rob Holding is out for the rest of the season and with Laurent Koscielny and Sokratis Papastathopoulos injured against Man United on Friday, Shkodran Mustafi is running out of partners.

That's where Pleguezuelo comes in. The Spanish defender may have appeared just once for the Gunners' senior side. However, he's turned out on 62 occasions for the club's U218s and U23s, and whilst he may not be experienced at senior level, it looks like Emery may have no choice but to throw the youngster in at the deep end. The next game that Arsenal have is a midweek league clash with Cardiff, and what better way to blood a youngser than against a Cardiff side who have scored just 19 goals this season.

You can read the Gunners' calls for Pleguezuelo here:

The Gunners are desperate to see the Spanish defender chanced in the senior side and their meeting with Cardiff is a perfect opportunity for that to happen.