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Confirmed Arsenal squad for Frankfurt: Key duo out, Holding in, teen star called-up

By on September 18, 2019

mesut ozil arsenal 2018

Arsenal have confirmed their travelling squad for Thursday’s Europa League clash against Eintracht Frankfurt with Mesut Ozil and Sokratis notable absentees.

Ozil made his first appearance of the season during our 2-2 draw at Watford on Sunday afternoon but Unai Emery says the playmaker has been ‘rested’ for the trip to Germany ahead of this weekend’s clash with Aston Villa.

I’m not sure ‘resting’ Ozil is a viable reason given he’s played just 71 minutes of football this season so I think it’s more likely that Mesut was reluctant to be away from his girlfriend given the recent security incidents at his home.

Sokratis has also been left behind in north London and it looks like Emery has decided to take the Greek international out of the firing line following his crucial error during the draw at Watford.

The good news is Rob Holding is recalled in place of Sokratis after returning to full fitness following nine months out with a knee injury. Holding has built-up his fitness with the Arsenal U23s recently so I expect we’ll see him handed a start tomorrow. Let’s hope he picks up where he left off before his injury as we could certainly use some reinforcements at the back.

Emery has gone with a surprisingly strong squad for the game tomorrow. The only youngsters who’ve been added to the squad are Buyaka Saka, Emile Smith Rowe and Gabriel Martinelli while Reiss Nelson and Joe Willock are also involved once again having cemented their places in the first team set-up.

Some fans will be concerned that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is in the travelling squad as there is a fair argument to suggest he should have been left at home given Alexandre Lacazette has been ruled out for several weeks with an ankle injury. Let’s hope Auba is on the bench as it would be infuriating if he was to pick up an injury playing in the Europa League.

Here is the 19-man Arsenal squad for tomorrow’s game: