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Team news: Duo in contention but Arsenal confirm 4 men could miss Crystal Palace trip

By mac14 on October 26, 2018

Arsenal have confirmed Nacho Monreal and Sead Kolasinac remain doubts for the trip to Crystal Palace but Petr Cech and Ainsley Maitland-Niles are back in contention.

Monreal and Kolasinac missed the Premier League victory over Leicester City on Monday night after picking up hamstring injuries in training last weekend and they were forced to sit out the Europa League win at Sporting Lisbon on Thursday night.

Unai Emery said in midweek that he hoped the duo would be back for the game against Crystal Palace on Sunday but the club says the left-backs will still need to be assessed ahead of our trip to Selhurst Park.

If they are ruled out we’ll have limited options at left-back once again. Stephan Lichtsteiner was deployed on the left against Leicester while Emery experimented with Granit Xhaka in the position last night so they are the front-runners to play at Palace if Nacho and Sead miss out.

However, Maitland-Niles could be called in to action as the versatile midfielder is available again after recovering from a fractured leg that he sustained while playing at left-back during our opening weekend defeat to Man City.

Cech is also back in contention after recovering from a hamstring injury that he suffered against Watford four weeks ago but Bernd Leno has been superb in his absence so it will be interesting to see who Emery picks on Sunday.

Laurent Koscielny is back in full training as he bids to return from a ruptured Achilles that he suffered towards the end of last season but the Frenchman isn’t expected to be available for selection for a couple of weeks yet.

Dinos Mavropanos is also still working his way back from a groin injury that’s hampered him recent so if Monreal and Kolasinac fail their fitness tests, then Emery will be without four players for the trip to Palace.

This was the team news update posted on Arsenal.com earlier today:

Nacho Monreal
Minor right hamstring. Being assessed ahead of Crystal Palace (a) on Sunday, October 28.

Sead Kolasinac
Minor right hamstring. Being assessed ahead of Crystal Palace (a) on Sunday, October 28.

Petr Cech
Now returned to full training following left hamstring injury from Watford (h).

Ainsley Maitland-Niles
Now returned to full training following a small fracture to left fibula in August.

Laurent Koscielny
Right Achilles tendon repair. Currently being integrated back into full training.

Dinos Mavropanos
Groin injury. Expected to return to full training in November.