Freddie Ljungberg has given a positive update on Laurent Koscielny’s injury status after the Frenchman was forced off the pitch in the final 10 minutes for the u21s against Portsmouth.
At first, it was very difficult to establish how serious the defender’s injury was, as he hobbled off in the 84th minute. He didn’t look to be holding a specific part of his body, and the physio didn’t give him any treatment before the substitution:
There was no clash with an opposing player so it’s hard to tell exactly what happened.
One second Koscielny was tracking back to defend, the next he was coming off with the physio. Hopefully just a precaution. pic.twitter.com/0N9bVxUiit
— Dan Critchlow (@afcDW) December 4, 2018
However, u23 head coach Freddie Ljungberg has since confirmed that the injury was nothing more than cramp. The only disappointing part is that they didn’t withdraw the defender a minute earlier, as Portsmouth ended up scoring their winning goal in the same play.
“It was a bit sad [because] he signalled to me before their goal he had cramp,” Ljungberg told the Islington Gazette. “I told him to go down, he wasn’t injured. It was just cramp, but unfortunately, he couldn’t move. We understood that he wasn’t worried at all, it was just some cramp.”
In the end, the Arsenal u21s lost 2-1 to Portsmouth, sealing their elimination from the Checkatrade Trophy. It was a disappointing result, but without Emile Smith Rowe, Joe Willock, Eddie Nketiah and Reiss Nelson the u23s/u21s are still figuring themselves out offensively.
One player who hasn’t had any trouble adapting, despite being one of the youngest members of the team, is Bukayo Saka. The winger was Arsenal’s main threat all night, and he ended up scoring a cracking goal to bring them level at 1-1:
Unsurprisingly, Saka is the man to bring Arsenal level. What a finish! @BukayoSaka87 pic.twitter.com/SBwFqeGkPU
— Dan Critchlow (@afcDW) December 4, 2018
After the 17-year-old made his debut against FC Vorskla, it certainly wouldn’t be surprising to see him play again in Arsenal’s dead rubber game against Qarabag FK next Thursday. We’ll see.