Nacho Monreal and Kieran Gibbs were both absent from first-team training today – but Mesut Ozil is back in action.
Arsenal take on Stoke City this weekend and will be hopeful of following up there incredible performance against Sunderland last weekend with a solid performance at The Britannia Stadium,
However, they do have some injury worries.
While they seem to have almost a full complement in most areas of the team – the left-back position is a genuine worry ahead of the tie.
Nacho Monreal and Kieran Gibbs are both said to be carrying knocks – and are considered major doubts for the game.
Arsene Wenger said of the pair in yesterday’s press conference:
“We have uncertainties about Monreal who had to come off last week with a foot injury, and about Gibbs. Vermaelen is back in the squad …If needed Thomas can play there, it’s not his preferred position and he has been out for a long time now but we’ll see. I still have 48 hours to make a decision.”
The other option other than to play Vermaelen out wide is to play one of the right-backs in the opposite position – with Carl Jenkinson or Bacary Sagna options.
And although they are reportedly not 100% out of the game – it certainly looked that way at training today.
Arsenal have released pictures of today’s training session – and while Vermaelen was spotted there was no sign of Monreal or Gibbs.
It seems then that they may have lost their battle with fitness ahead of tomorrow’s game – and that Vermaelen may be called in their place.
However, there was positive news – as this refreshed star got stuck back into action…
image: © Ronnie Macdonald
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