Arsenal lined up without Kieran Tierney against Aston Villa while Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang both limped off, so what are the latest updates on the trio?
Kieran Tierney was a surprise omission from the Arsenal squad when it was announced on Friday night for the game against Aston Villa in the Premier League at the Emirates.
His absence was explained as a bruised left ankle, although it has not been clarified how he picked the problem up.
“We don’t know how long he’s going to be out,” Mikel Arteta said after the game. “He could not carry on the other day and he wasn’t available to play.”
Given that Tierney finished the game against Palace on the Monday night, we can assume the injury was picked up in training at some point during the week.
As for Auba and Laca, their problems were nothing more than cramp after an evening of working their asses off.
“Laca was fatigue,” Arteta said.
“He hasn’t played that many minutes. He worked so hard and at some stage he just said ‘I’ve had enough’ and he was cramping.”
When Arteta didn’t mention Aubameyang, he was pressed for an answer to which he replied, “No, no he was just cramping.”
Arsenal’s next game is against Leeds United in the Carabao Cup which is likely to see some rotation, although Arteta may be loathed to interrupt any potential momentum that might be building.
That being said, both Gabriel Martinelli and Eddie Nketiah could do with a run out and perhaps the biggest compliment we can give Nuno Tavares is that we didn’t miss Kieran Tierney one bit against Villa.