Unai Emery thinks Lucas Torreira will be available to face Napoli on Thursday, despite coming off at half-time with a minor injury in Monday night’s victory over Watford.

Torreira was involved in an early clash with Watford striker Troy Deeney in the Vicarage Road fixture, with the forward sent off for an elbow in the Uruguayan’s face. After that, the midfielder faced a few more feisty challenges before being withdrawn at half-time.

Unai Emery explained afterwards that the substitution was partly down to the atmosphere of the game, and partly because of a minor injury Torreira had been carrying from the first leg of the Napoli tie. However, the Arsenal head coach thinks the 23-year-old will be available again to travel to Italy for Thursday’s match.

“First I decided to do the change of Lucas Torreira because, after the red card, the atmosphere is against him,” he said. “Also, the doctor said to me in the first half that he has a little pain from Thursday’s game against Napoli and I decided ‘okay, it’s the moment [to take him off]’.

“I think it’s a small injury and he can be ready for Thursday physically.”

That’s good news for Arsenal, considering how well Torreira played in the first leg against Napoli. He pressed the Serie A side high up the field and won the ball back in dangerous areas regularly, which is exactly how he ended up scoring the Gunners second goal (given as a Kalidou Koulibaly own goal).

If he can do the same again in Italy and help Arsenal score a vital away goal, the semi-finals and a trip to Spain are sure to follow.