Arsenal Face Being Without 6 Men For Man Utd Trip After Emery Confirms Fitness Doubt

Arsenal will be looking to extend their unbeaten run to 20 games in all competitions when they take on Manchester United at Old Trafford on Wednesday night.

Ahead of the game, Gunners boss Unai Emery has been speaking to the media at his pre-match press conference this afternoon and he’s provided a team news update including the latest on the fitness of Mesut Ozil.

The 30-year-old was left on the bench for Arsenal’s 2-1 victory over Bournemouth last weekend and the playmaker was then ruled out of the trip to the Ukraine for their Europa League group stage win at FC Vorskla on Thursday.

Ozil was absent for yesterday’s North London Derby due to an apparent back problem but the Gunners didn’t miss him as they came from behind to beat Tottenham 4-2 in a thrilling game at the Emirates Stadium.

Emery has now provided a fresh update and revealed that Ozil remains a doubt for Wednesday night’s trip to Man Utd as he’s only been able to take part in light individual training away from the rest of the squad today and he doesn’t know if the German star will recover in time.

Emery told Arsenal.com:

“I said on Sunday that he’s had backache since last Tuesday. He couldn’t play in Kiev or on Sunday.

“At the moment, I don’t know if he can play in Manchester. Today he was working alone, I don’t know if he’s OK for Wednesday.”

So it remains to be seen whether Ozil will feature against United but Arsenal will certainly have to make-do without the services of Granit Xhaka as the midfielder will serve a one-game suspension after picking up his fifth booking of the season yesterday.

Laurent Koscielny made his comeback with 45 minutes for the U23’s last Monday but having been out for over six months with an Achilles injury the centre-back isn’t expected to feature for the first team just yet.

Nacho Monreal is at least another week away from returning from a hamstring injury while Dinos Mavropanos is still working his way back from a groin strain. With Danny Welbeck possibly missing the rest of the season with a broken ankle it means Emery will be without 6 players against United if Ozil is ruled out.

Arsenal head to Old Trafford sitting fourth in the Premier League table after their win over Spurs and they can extend their lead over seventh-placed Man Utd to a whopping 11 points with a win on Wednesday night.