Arsenal go into their game against Southampton on Sunday with doubts hanging over the fitness of two players.
Double doubt
The Gunners return to league action this weekend, facing Southampton at the Emirates at the same time Manchester United welcome Liverpool to Old Trafford. With just one point between Arsenal and United, a win for Unai Emery’s men against the league’s 18th-placed team is a must.
Athough Arsenal returned to winning ways against BATE on Thursday night, their form is still something of a concern with little being created up top and the defence looking incredibly shakey, even with Laurent Koscielny present.
The news that he is a doubt, then, is a concern. He was forced off on Thursday night after just 56 minutes and faces a fitness test before the game.
Laurent Koscielny is not the only one who could miss out with Ainsley Maitland-Niles also facing a fitness test ahead of the game.
Click next to get all the injury updates
Laurent Koscielny
Laurent Koscielny faces a fitness test ahead of the game against Southampton on Sunday.
He is struggling with a calf problem that he picked up on Thursday night to add to his injury woes this season.
“I think it’s precaution and we are going to wait for tomorrow [Friday],” Emery said after the BATE game. “But, I hope he will be okay for Sunday and for the next week. It’s muscular, it’s not a break. But it was only precaution because he was starting to feel not good.”
Arsenal’s captain has made just 14 appearances this season, totalling 1,110 minutes yet somehow, despite only playing in eight Premier League matches, he has twice the number of goals this season compared to Spurs’ striker, Fernando Llorente.
True story.
Ainsley Maitland-Niles update next
Ainsley Maitland-Niles
Maitland-Niles will undergo a fitness test ahead of Arsenal’s game against Southampton on Sunday.
The utility man missed out on Thursday night and was not listed as injured in the team bulletin prior to the game. That’s because he became the latest in the Arsenal camp to come down with an illness.
I’m not sure if they spend a lot of time at the training ground coughing into each other’s faces, but it might be worth investigating.
Danny Welbeck
Danny is still on the road to recovery after his horrific ankle break earlier in the season and we’ve had little by way of update about the forward since January.
In the middle of last month, the 28-year-old, who is out of contract in the summer, posted an update on Instagram.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bsf7FlCgXKJ/
That followed on from an update the previous week showing him out of his cast and working out in Arsenal’s swimming pool.
https://twitter.com/DannyWelbeck/status/1081222453802749954
He has already missed 23 games this season since he picked up the injury at the start of November.
Recently, he spoke about the need to get behind Emery.
Rob Holding
Rob is still recovering from his ACL problems in his left knee and we are not expecting to see him for quite some time.
He underwent surgery mid-December.
Hector Bellerin
Like Rob, Hector is also out with a left knee ACL and will not be back until late-2019.
That hasn’t stopped him taking the p*ss out of Spurs.
Click next to see the current injury table that is updated before every match
Current injury table
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