Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger may look to bring a full-back in on loan in January after revealing that Kieran Gibbs has suffered another setback on his recovery from stomach surgery.
Arsenal head to Aston Villa without one recognised full-back after Johan Djourou joined Gibbs, Andre Santos, Carl Jenkinson and Bacary Sagna on the club's injury list because of a groin strain he suffered in defeat at Manchester City on Sunday.
That means Wenger will have to include either teenager Ignasi Miquel or centre-back Sebastien Squillaci in his side, with Thomas Vermaelen and Laurent Koscielny likely to play at full-back.
Wenger expected all his injured defenders to be out until 2012, except Gibbs, who was due to return this week.
He suffered a hernia in October but, despite initial optimism that the 22-year-old would be out for a fortnight, he struggled to recover and had to undergo surgery last month.
With Santos recently ruled out until March, Wenger desperately hoped that Gibbs would be fit for Wednesday night's game, but the left-back has now suffered another setback on his road to recovery, leaving Wenger to contemplate bringing in a temporary replacement next month.
"He (Gibbs) will see a specialist again and if something happens there that he has had a real setback then we could (go in to the loan market), possibly, yes," Wenger said.
"That's what we are doing. We are starting to look at players if Gibbs is not back."
Wenger admitted that his team's defeat at City was caused partly by him having to introduce Miquel, 19, and reshuffle his back-four.
With the Gunners facing Villa, QPR, Wolves and Fulham over the festive period, the Frenchman concedes asking his centre-backs to play out of position in such a key period is risky.
"No solution will be ideal because whatever we do, two players will have to play out of position," Wenger added.
"We have centre-backs who do not like to play at full back and we are a team who likes to go forward through the full-backs, so they are in a position where they have to produce different games.
"That is much more demanding physically. That exposes us even more to injuries."
Wenger did reveal some good news from the treatment room about Bacary Sagna, who broke his leg in October, however.
"He has started to run again yesterday and today," Wenger said.
Although Arsenal by no means disgraced themselves at the Etihad Stadium at the weekend, the result meant the club's eight-match unbeaten run came to and end.
The sequence, which started in October, put Arsenal back in to the hunt for a Champions League place after a woeful start which included defeats to rivals Tottenham, Liverpool and Manchester United.
The north London outfit are still three points behind fourth-place Chelsea, though, and Wenger admits his men must quickly forget the defeat at City if they are to break back in to the top four.
"I said after the game that we can take a lot of encouragement therefore it's important we respond quickly," Wenger said.
"It (the loss) was very difficult to explain. All players had spirit.
"We are a team who wants to respond quickly now and keep our spirit and determination.
"Then we have a bright future, but it's important that if we keep that spirit and determination we can go from strength to strength. "We are not the same team we were two months ago."
Meanwhile, Arsenal expect to find out on Wednesday if their home game against Wolves on Boxing Day will go ahead.
The club are considering moving the game back 24 hours due to a proposed tube drivers' strike called by union Aslef.
London Underground are challenging Aslef's proposed action in the High Court on Wednesday and Arsenal are expected to base their decision on the outcome.
It will be almost impossible for the 60,000 ticket-holders for the game to reach the Emirates Stadium if strike action goes ahead.
Chelsea's home game against Fulham could also be postponed if the 24-hour walk out takes place.
Aston Villa skipper Stiliyan Petrov has urged supporters to be patient with the club's crop of youngsters as they adjust to first team football.
Villa boss Alex McLeish is short of experience in his squad and has put faith in the likes of Chris Herd, Marc Albrighton, Barry Bannan, Fabian Delph, Nathan Delfouneso, Andreas Weimann and Ciaran Clark.
Injuries and suspensions meant another two youngsters in Graham Burke and Daniel Johnson were on the bench during the weekend setback against Liverpool.
Petrov understands the fans' frustrations at the defeat against the Reds but believes the young crop have to be given time to make the step up to Barclays Premier League football.
He said: "If you looked at the bench on Sunday, there were a lot of young boys. But we need to deal with that when sometimes we have periods like that.
"We will deal with it again. It's hard for the young boys but they want to learn.
"It will take a while and the club is taking big faith in these young players.
"Maybe the fans need to be a little bit patient with them because a young player needs time to build up, especially in the Premier League."
Villa will be boosted by the return of five-goal joint top scorer Gabriel Agbonlahor after suspension plus strike partner Darren Bent if he recovers from injury.
Petrov said: "We missed Gabby and Benty massively on Sunday. To have them back will make a massive difference.
"We know how important Gabby is for us. He gives us something different when he plays."
Petrov is looking for an improved performance against the Gunners.
He said: "We know on Sunday we were really poor and we have to raise our game against Arsenal.
"If we beat Arsenal, Sunday will be forgotten. That's the good thing about football. You win the next game and everyone forgets the previous one.
"It is up to make the fans happy because against Liverpool, I don't think they were.
"So far we have a good amount of points on the board but we need to start performing better against the top teams."
