Arsenal Boss Provides Injury Update On Trio Ahead Of Europa League Clash

Unai Emery has provided an injury update on Sokratis, Nacho Monreal and Sead Kolasinac following Arsenal’s thrilling 3-1 victory over Leicester City on Monday night.

The defensive trio were all forced to sit on the sidelines as a virtuoso performance from Mesut Ozil inspired Arsenal to come from behind to beat the Foxes thanks to a quick-fire second half brace from substitute Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

Sokratis sat out the visit of Leicester after picking up an ankle injury while away with the Greece squad during the recent international break. Thankfully the issue isn’t serious as Sokratis is already back in full training and Emery has hinted the centre-back could return for our Europa League trip to Sporting Lisbon on Thursday evening.

Monreal and Kolasinac were both ruled out of the game last night after suffering minor hamstring problems in training over the weekend so Stephan Lichtsteiner was forced to play at left-back with youngster Zech Medley drafted in to the squad on the bench.

Emery has now provided an update on when the full-backs will be available again and while Thursday’s clash with Sporting may come too soon, the boss is hoping neither injury will keep them on the treatment table for too long.

Speaking in his post-match press conference, Emery is quoted as saying by Arsenal.com:

“Yesterday was a very bad day for injuries. We had two in the same position. Monreal and Kolasinac came to training with a small problem, but we did group work today with both.

“This morning the news was that they weren’t OK to play. Xhaka played 30 minutes at left back, but for us, for our balance, it’s better for Nacho or Sead to be OK to play in that position. We are going to look at how they are for the next matches, but I hope they are nearly ready to play, maybe not for Thursday, but I hope near.

“Sokratis was training yesterday and maybe he can be back on Thursday. Now with a lot of matches in a few days, it’s very important for our situation that our preparation is good and it’s very important to give our players time to rest.”

It will be a big boost to have Sokratis available again but let’s hope at least one of Monreal or Kolasinac will be fit to face Sporting as the defence looked unbalanced with Lichtsteiner and Xhaka playing at left-back last night.