Nacho Monreal’s substitution against Crystal Palace was just precautionary, says Arsene Wenger.

Monreal returned from an ankle injury against Palace on Saturday but lasted just 34 minutes.

He was substituted for Ainsley Maitland-Niles after receiving a kick to the back of his hamstring, according to Wenger.

“He has a kick on the back of his hamstring. It was precautionary,” Wenger said, as reported by Arsenal.com.

Although he was only on the pitch for a short amount of time, Monreal made a huge impact.

He opened the scoring with a header after just six minutes, set-up Alex Iwobi for Arsenal’s second four minutes later and then laid on Laurent Koscielny for Arsenal’s third goal just three minutes after that.

He was making his first start since the 3-3 draw with Liverpool in December.

The Spaniard was restored to his usual left back position for the game, having played the majority of the season as a left-sided centre back in a back three.

His return to the side may encourage Wenger to use a back four more often.

As it was just a kick, he should be fine for the Carabao Cup semi-final second leg against Chelsea on Wednesday night.