Abou Diaby has claimed that he would be happy to cover for Alex Song despite his attacking instincts.

The Frenchman made a decisive impact in yesterday's FA Cup match but after the game he told Arsenal.com that he would be happy to play in a more withdrawn role while Song is away at the African Nations Cup:

"I will talk about that with the manager and if he wants me to play in that position, I am happy to do it, we will see what happens."

"Alex is a very important player in our team. Because he is going, we have to replace him and make sure we do the same job without him."

Diaby has the physical presence to dominate the central midfield area but it remains to be seen whether he has the discipline required to stop himself charging forwards.

We have few options to directly replace Song so instead of doing this, Wenger may choose to tinker with the system in order to share defensive reponsibility more evenly across the midfield.

Photo: Action Images via Reuters