Thomas Vermaelen made his much awaited come-back against Bolton in the Carling Cup a few days back and followed it up with a substitute appearance against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge last Saturday.

The Belgian managed to play the full 90 minutes against Marseille on Tuesday and looked comfortable. He was playing alongside Per Mertesacker at the back for the first time in his career, but you would’ve never thought it, such was the performance that night – Laurent Koscielny was given a much needed rest in midweek.

Vermaelen had this to say when asked about playing with the giant German:

‘It was the first time for me to play with Per and I have not been training with him a lot, maybe once for a few minutes. Of course, for me it is not a problem as I have watched him play alongside Laurent. I think that you have to be professional enough to cope with that. You have to play with everybody.’

In the first 5 games (in all competitions) of the season, Arsenal had used three different combinations at the centre of defence; this was because of injuries to two of the clubs main centre-backs – Vermaelen and Koscielny. Since the restart, after the September international break, the first choice pairing has been Koscielny and Mertesacker. The pair have played together at the back up until the Marseille game.

Needless to say, Koscielny and Mertesacker have improved so much since the Swansea game. Suddenly, after watching the danger-sniffer Vermaelen play against Marseille, Wenger has got a big decision to make as to which two will feature at the heart of the defence against West Brom and for the foreseeable future. As a matter of fact, Arsenal have used SEVEN different pairings this year, but this is the first time since August 2010 we have had so many fit centre-backs to choose from. However, surely the preferred are ones are Koscielny, Vermaelen and Mertesacker.

So who should be the first choice pairing?

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