Arsenal Team News: Emery Could Be Without 7 Players For Crucial Liverpool Trip

Arsenal need a positive result to stay in touch with the top four when they take on Liverpool at Anfield on Saturday evening. 

Ahead of the game, Unai Emery spoke to the media at his pre-match press conference on Thursday afternoon and he provided a full team news and injury update following the draw at Brighton.

The Gunners boss confirmed that Shkodran Mustafi is close to making his return to full training following a hamstring injury after doing individual work away from the rest of the Arsenal squad this week.

Mustafi has missed the last five matches in all competitions since suffering the muscle problem against Huddersfield earlier this month and although he’s now on the verge of making his comeback, the Liverpool game on Saturday may come too soon for the centre-back.

Rob Holding is obviously still unavailable for Arsenal as he’s been ruled out for the rest of the season with a knee ligament injury while Dinos Mavropanos is still out with an on-going groin problem.

Hector Bellerin will also miss the trip to Liverpool this weekend due to a niggling calf injury while Nacho Monreal remains a major doubt after missing the Brighton game on Boxing Day with a tight hamstring.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan has been ruled out until February with a fractured foot so with Danny Welbeck also unlikely to play again this season due to a broken ankle, Arsenal have plenty of injury problems to deal with this weekend.

Emery told Arsenal.com:

on his team for the Liverpool game…
We are playing a lot of matches in [the space of] a few days, and we need each day to test how the players are. Today, only we trained with the players who didn’t play yesterday. Mustafi may also be close to training with us, but today he worked alone but with good feeling. Tomorrow is the last training before we travel to Liverpool and we need to know who can play in training.

If Mustafi and Monreal are ruled out, as expected, then Arsenal will be without seven players for the Liverpool game on Saturday evening which is a nightmare situation for Emery as he looks to take on the unbeaten Premier League leaders.

Arsenal head to Merseyside sitting fifth in the table – two points behind Chelsea – after drawing with Brighton on Wednesday so the north Londoners need a positive result against Liverpool to keep the pressure on the top four.