DARYL JANMAAT will step into an unfamiliar role when he lines up as a central defender against Arsenal this afternoon, but John Carver is confident the Newcastle United right-back will be able to deal with the Gunners in-form front line.

Carver is down to the bare bones of his squad with almost an entire first-team out through injury or suspension.

The head coach will be forced to field a makeshift back four against one of the most prolific strikers in the Premier League with Fabricio Coloccini suspended, while Steve Taylor, Massadio Haidara and Paul Dummett are all out injured.

Mike Williamson is the Magpies’ only fit senior centre-back available and that means right-back Janmaat will be moved inside.

The Dutch international has impressed in his first season on Tyneside following a summer move from Feyenoord and Carver has backed the 25-year-old to cope with Gunners’ striker Olivier Giroud, who has seven goals in his last eight games.

“He’s going to play as a centre back,” Carver revealed. “I think he’s a great professional and he will deal with it.

“He understands the game. He is a full international. It’s another string to his bow. I think he’ll cope with it. He’s been great around the place. He’s such a character. He’s larger than life and he’s quite funny, but he’s a good professional.

“When we lost Debuchy that was harsh but we replaced him with a better all round player in my opinion.”

Carver will have to reshuffle his pack to cope with the absentees and he could call on one of midfield duo Jack Colback or Jonas Gutierrez to fill in at left-back.

Further upfield and Carver has decisions to make over who will lead the line with Ayoze Perez in contention for a return to the starting line-up.

The 21-year-old hasn’t started the last three games after Carver admitted the young Spaniard needed to be taken out the firing line. Many expected to see him back in the starting line-up against Everton last Sunday, but he said: “Ayo was still down physically on his stats and we were concerned about him.

“People might ask why I’m talking about stats but I know Arsene Wenger looks at the physical stats of his players.

“I remember when we went Highbury for a game and Robert Pires was playing. Wenger told Sir Bobby before the game that Pires was at his limit physically and he didn’t want to play him.

“I’ll never forget it, because the ball went down past the dugout at our end and Pires fell over and tore his hamstring.

“The physical data on Ayo was quite low and it was a worry. I didn’t want to throw him in. He’s picked it up again and he could feature this weekend.”