Hector Bellerin looks set to miss the Xmas period after he picked up a calf problem against Southampton.

The Spanish defender joins a growing list of injured players at the club with Rob Holding out for the season, Shkodran Mustafi carrying a hamstring problem, and Dinos Mavropanos still struggling to return from the groin problem that’s kept him out all season.

In addition to that, Nacho Monreal has only just returned while Sead Kolasinac has also picked up a problem.

“We are going to wait tomorrow [Monday] and Tuesday, and Wednesday we are going play, and then Saturday also,” Unai Emery said after the match.

“We need every player. Bellerin has a small injury – he is going to be some weeks off I think.

“Sokratis is coming back and we will see how Mustafi and Kolasinac are, and it is good news Koscielny can be with us for the next matches. It is not a good result but it was important for us [to have them back].”

‘Some weeks’ is quite vague but I’m going to guess he means two-three weeks for Bellerin which is an average timeframe for a standard calf strain.

On the plus side, Laurent Koscielny got some more minutes under his belt after his seven-month layoff. “It was very good news for Koscielny, a very good performance over 90 minutes,” Emery added.

“Physically, he could play the 90 minutes.

“Other players, like Xhaka, played very well, and Lichtsteiner also. We conceded not many chances for them, but their efficiency was good. We also had chances to score more than the two goals but we didn’t score. Maybe the difference is this. The control in the game over 90 minutes is more for us than them.

“We need to continue improving details because three times we conceded chances.”