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Arsenal boss confirms key trio could miss Watford clash

By on October 12, 2017

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Arsene Wenger has been speaking at his press conference this morning ahead of our trip to Watford and he’s offered a team news and injury update.

Unfortunately we have concerns in defence as the boss has revealed that Laurent Koscielny remains a major doubt for the trip to Vicarage Road this weekend due to an on-going Achilles injury.

Koscielny missed our wins over BATE and Brighton before the international break and sat out of France’s two World Cup qualifiers after aggravating an Achilles injury during the win over West Brom last month.

The centre-back has been training alone this week and although the signs look positive, Arsene says at the moment Koscielny isn’t available for selection but a final decision will be made on Friday.

To add to our woes, Wenger also confirmed that Sead Kolasinac is a doubt on Saturday after picking up a hip injury during the international break.

Kolasinac was substituted at half-time during Bosnia’s win in Estonia earlier this week and he’ll now be assessed to see if he’ll be available to face Watford this weekend.

alexis sanchez arsenal

There is also a concern over Alexis Sanchez as the boss says the attacker took some ‘special treatment’ during Chile’s World Cup qualifying defeat to Brazil.

The 28-year-old will return to London Colney tomorrow to be assessed but Wenger appeared to cast doubt over his availability to start against Watford on Saturday evening.

The boss is quoted as saying by the Express:

“Kolasinac is a minor problem, a hip problem. Not all the players are back. Sanchez won’t be back with us until tomorrow.

“We will assess Sanchez when he comes back, I watched the Brazil game and he got some special treatment in that game.

“Koscielny will have a final test tomorrow but at the moment he is not available. He trained on his own and the signs were positive so we will test him on Friday.”

So it looks like we may have to field a patched-up defence if Koscielny and Kolasinac are ruled out. With Shkodran Mustafi certain to miss the game, Wenger may even be forced to revert to a back four due to his limited options at the back.