Laurent Koscielny is expected to miss out on our trip to Newcastle on Saturday, while Per Mertesacker is predicted to be back in action.

The Frenchman was ruled out of our home match against Liverpool on Monday due to a mild back problem, which he’s still suffering with. He’s therefore unlikely to travel to Newcastle at the weekend.

The BFG, on the other hand, should be back, considering he was only ill, which is nothing new. The centre-back seems to be forever picking up bugs.

I wouldn’t be at all concerned about missing Kos for our next match. Although the combination of Calum Chambers and Gabriel was… tense, shall we say? Gabriel himself was actually pretty good overall and I think a duo of him and Mertesacker will fare just fine against the Tyneside team.

Of course, it’d be ideal to see Kos back in action as soon as possible, but I don’t think there’s any need to panic in the mean time.