Laurent Koscielny won’t play against Colombia on Friday night thanks a hip problem, but the France national team hope to see him return to face Russia next Tuesday, according to local media.

Thursday’s L’Equipe reports that Didier Deschamps has “spared” the Arsenal centre-back from taking part in Friday’s match. Instead he’s giving him more time to recover before next week’s match.

The centre-back picked up the problem against AC Milan last week. He picked up a knock on his hip and came off after just 11 minutes.

Whilst it’s good to hear they won’t rush him back against Colombia, it would be better if France left the defender out altogether. After all, Arsenal have a match against Stoke City just a few days after the game in Russia.

Then Arsene Wenger’s side face Russian opposition of their own, in the first leg of the Europa League quarter-finals against CSKA Moscow.

It’s a busy time for Arsenal at the moment, and they need their best players available.

Koscielny has struggled with a few injuries since the turn of the year. He missed a couple of matches against Chelsea in January, as well as games against Bournemouth and Nottingham Forest. Arsenal didn’t win single one of the four.

Hopefully this latest issue clears up quickly.