Emery Offers Update After Arsenal Star Picks Up Injury During Win Over Fulham

Unai Emery has confirmed Shkodran Mustafi aggravated his hamstring during Arsenal’s 4-1 victory over Fulham but he’s hoping the injury won’t be anything too serious.

Mustafi initially suffered a hamstring injury during our 1-0 win over Huddersfield Town almost a month ago and he was forced to miss the games against Qarabag, Southampton, Burnley, Tottenham and Brighton last month.

The German centre-back returned to start against Liverpool on December 29th but he clearly wasn’t 100% match fit and was replaced at half-time during the humiliating 5-1 rout at Anfield.

Mustafi still managed to pass a late fitness test to line-up in a back three alongside Laurent Koscielny and Sokratis against Fulham on New Year’s Day but was once again replaced at half-time during Arsenal’s 4-1 victory.

Speaking after the game, Emery confirmed that Mustafi asked to be substituted after tweaking his hamstring injury during the opening forty-five minutes but the Arsenal boss is hoping the latest issue isn’t anything serious.

Emery told Arsenal.com:

on Mustafi…
It’s a small injury, a small problem. He didn’t feel well after the first half and said for us to change. It’s not a big injury. He wanted to play today to help us, so maybe we can give him a few days rest to help us. Yes [it’s a hamstring].

Mustafi is now likely to miss Saturday’s FA Cup third round clash with Blackpool but let’s hope he’s available for the trip to the London Stadium to take on West Ham the following weekend as the last thing we need is to lose another defender.

Arsenal have been without Hector Bellerin, Rob Holding, Nacho Monreal and Dinos Mavropanos in recent weeks while Koscielny is still working his way back to full match fitness following seven months out so Emery has been forced to field a patched-up defence.