Shkodran Mustafi will miss the trip to Aston Villa with a hamstring injury, with no exact timescale for his recovery at this stage.

Arsenal posted their latest team news update on Monday, confirming fears that Shkodran Mustafi has a hamstring problem. The club are still assessing the problem, but he won’t be able to feature against Aston Villa in midweek.

Based on the last decade of Arsenal hamstring injuries, I wouldn’t hold out much hope for the rest of the season either. Arsenal play the FA Cup final next week on Saturday, so that’s hardly much time to recover.

In other team news, Bernd Leno is outside running and participating in ball drills again, as he closes in on a return to competitive action. It’s obviously a close thing whether he’ll make it back before the final game of the season, but Emi Martinez is performing very well in his absence. So there’s no rush.

Cedric Soares, who was ineligible for the FA Cup tie against Manchester City, is available again. As is Eddie Nketiah, after serving his three-match ban.

Calum Chambers, Pablo Mari and Gabriel Martinelli are all still on the same schedule as before.

Chambers is aiming to return “as soon as possible” in 2020. Mari is planning to return to full training in September. Martinelli plans to rejoin the group before the end of the calendar year.

It’s a shame to lose Mustafi for the upcoming games, as he’s a starter in the current back three. The one positive is that we’ve seen Rob Holding perform against Liverpool in Mustafi’s absence. He just needs to do the same for the next three games.