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Team news update: Arsenal confirm 6 players are available again for West Ham trip

By on January 9, 2019

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Unai Emery’s injury problems have eased considerably as Arsenal have confirmed six players are back in full training ahead of our trip to West Ham this weekend.

The boss has been dealing with a huge injury list in recent weeks but Hector Bellerin, Laurent Koscielny, Mesut Ozil, Shkodran Mustafi, Nacho Monreal and Dinos Mavropanos are all set to be available on Saturday.

Bellerin has been out for the past few weeks due to a calf injury that he picked up against Southampton last month while Monreal has been struggling to overcoming a niggling hamstring injury that’s troubled him for over two months.

Ozil has missed the last few games with a knee injury that he sustained in training ahead of the Liverpool game shortly after Christmas while Mustafi has also been on the sidelines with a hamstring issue.

Koscielny was forced to pull out of the FA Cup win at Blackpool after hurting his back in the warm-up and Mavropanos is yet to feature this season due to a serious groin injury.

However, all six players are now back in full training and should be in contention to face West Ham at the London Stadium on Saturday lunchtime, but Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Rob Holding and Danny Welbeck remain out with long-term problems

An update on Arsenal.com read:

Hector Bellerin
Returned to full training.
(Left calf)

Laurent Koscielny
Returned to full training.
(Back spasm during warm-up at Blackpool)

Dinos Mavropanos
Returned to full training.
(Groin)

Shkodran Mustafi
Returned to full training.
(Right hamstring)

Nacho Monreal
Returned to full training.
(Right hamstring)

Mesut Ozil
Returned to full training.
(Left knee)

Henrikh Mkhitaryan
Right foot. Expected to return to full training in February.

Rob Holding
Left knee. Recovering after surgery.

Danny Welbeck
Right ankle. Recovering after surgery.

This is HUGE news as Emery will finally be able to field a decent defence after being forced to put-out a patched up side in recent games. Bellerin’s return on the right will be particularly important as I think we’ve really missed him.

It will also be interesting to see whether Ozil comes back in to the side having been axed by Emery recently but I have a feeling the German playmaker will have to make do with a place on the bench this weekend.