Arsenal have confirmed that Sead Kolasinac has picked up a thigh strain that means he will miss Saturday’s game with Sheffield United.
The Bosnian’s absence, coupled with Kieran Tierney’s ongoing spell on the sidelines, means we’ll likely have to call on Bukayo Saka to play at left-back.
Asked about Kolasinac in his weekly press conference, Arteta said: “I don’t know [how serious it is], the doctors are assessing him still – he had a normal session yesterday.
“He has been in some discomfort, we know this season that he had some little niggles, so we have to assess him and see if we can get him fit for Saturday or he will be out.”
Given the Chelsea game is next Tuesday, it’s fair to say Kolasinac is probably a doubt for that too.
There was no mention of Lucas Torreira in the update from the medical team, but Arteta did briefly touch on the status of the Uruguayan, who went off at half time against Crystal Palace last weekend. His involvement on Saturday sounds touch and go.
“Very similar situation [to Kolasinac],” said the boss. “He trained yesterday as well, but still not 100 per cent confident so we will have to wait and see again.
Elsewhere, Hector Bellerin’s tight hamstring is still being assessed. The Spaniard hasn’t played in the Premier League since the 2-1 defeat to Brighton in early December. It looks unlikely that he’ll feature at the weekend or on Tuesday.
Pierre-Emerick’s three-game suspension for his red card against Crystal Palace means he’ll be out until we face Burnley on 2 February.
Finally, Calum Chambers is just starting his rehab after surgery on a ruptured ACL. He’s facing up to 9 months on the sidelines.
Sounds bought right
Chelsea, SEE YOU NEXT TUESDAY
*BOUT* damn autocorrect
Autocorrect let you down twice. It’s C U Next Tuesday for anything related to Chelsea.
Kola misses some amount of games with these niggles. May be time to investigate a more durable left back to provide competition for Tierney.
That’s if “durable” Tierny has won the competition
it’s pretty clear he’s been run into ground this time, hard to blame him for being overplayed. it’s a pity there’s no one in u23 who could deputise, as there’s a number of positions we’re super light in and LB hardly seems to be top of the list.
I would love us to sign someone that can play both LB and RB. Kinda like an Azplicueta role. That would be ridicuolously handy to have especially now
In the summer I wondered if we could have gone for Jonjo Kenny on loan for a temporary right back solution until Bellerin was back, but thinking about it we could have also looked at the player that replaced him for the season: Sidibe. I’m sure he’d rather play for us than Everton and he’s got experience of playing both positions (although at the time I wouldn’t have thought we’d need an LB).
Like Monreal?
I used to hear good things about Joel Lopez (?), an academy kid we took from Barcas academy. Nothing recent, but surprised he’s no longer on the radar.
I love this new mentality our fans have which is basically if someone is injured for more than two weeks then we take them out back behind London Colney and put them out of their misery.
A very grand national approach to our employees.
Yes, he’s really not very reliable when it comes to these types of injuries.
Was the same at Schalke too.
Who is?
Tierney?
Gibbs?
Bellerin?
All our fullbacks get injured or use to get injured.
You get someone new in (Tierney) and he goes injured.
Ridiculous much…
Which Tierney are you referring to? the one who came in an ambulance and is now in a wheelchair, or you know another the rest of us aren’t aware of?
We are so short on full backs… AMN the only one left fit and he’s not a natural full back. Saka it is then for the weekend
Definitely cannot risk Bellerin until fully healed. This club has such a bad history with muscular issues, especially from players coming off of long-term injuries.
When it rains…
In fairness, Kolasinac’s thighs are bigger than Torreira’s back.
Couldn’t someone loosen Hector’s hammy??
They’ve ordered the parts from Speedy Spaniards
Just a spanner required no?? ?
Gutted! Was looking forward to seeing those thighs on Saturday……
4 defenders out injured, Holding still recovering… Yet we have enough backup to be able to send Mavropanos out on loan and keep Mustafi on the bench…. If that’s not squad depth, nothing is
Some people would like to see the back of Mustafi but at least he’s still available
We really need Kolasinac fit and ready. Was surprised he was used against Leeds frankly. Seemed a bit foolish and a risk considering the state of his ankle. Since he’s been on, he has made a massive impact down the left side for us, provided a platform for us to press higher up bc of his strength but also his reading of the game (Intercepted the ball several times to great effect against Palace) Some fans of course prefer to imagine a non existent “Tierney masterclass”….or that (laughable) we should sell Kolasinac since we have Saka. This is the sort… Read more »