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Arsenal suffer fresh injury concern ahead of Chelsea showdown

By mac14 on May 25, 2017

According to a report in The Sun, Arsenal are facing a defensive injury crisis ahead of Saturday’s FA Cup final against Chelsea with Kieran Gibbs a major doubt for the game.

Gibbs missed the 3-1 win over Everton at the Emirates on the final day of the Premier League season last Sunday due to what was initially thought to be a minor thigh injury.

As we reported yesterday, it looked as though Gibbs was set to return to the squad after a picture emerged of the defender out on the training pitches at London Colney on Wednesday.

However, The Sun are reporting today that Gibbs is yet to return to full training and remains a major doubt to take part in the Wembley showpiece this weekend.

If true, then Gibbs must have been doing light individual training away from the main squad yesterday so we’ll have to wait and see whether the 27-year-old is able to resume full training today.

Arsene Wenger will be desperate to have Gibbs available as we’re already without the suspended Laurent Koscielny while Gabriel has been ruled out for up to eight weeks with knee ligament damage.

Shkodran Mustafi is also a major doubt as he’s not trained since suffering from illness and dizzy spells following a kick to the head against Sunderland last week.

If Mustafi and Gibbs are fit, then I expect we’ll see a back three of Mustafi, Holding and Monreal with Gibbs in the left wing-back role line-up against Chelsea this weekend. However, it would cause a major headache if one, or god forbid both, players were ruled out.

Wenger would probably have no choice but to revert to a back four of Bellerin, Mertesacker, Holding and Monreal – which would be a real shame as the 3-4-2-1 formation has been a huge success.

Let’s pray for some positive news on Mustafi and Gibbs over the next 48 hours.