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Arsenal team news ahead of Man Utd trip: Positive update on key duo, striker ruled out

By mac14 on September 27, 2019

Arsenal will be determined to come away with a positive result when we take on Manchester United at Old Trafford on Monday evening.

Unai Emery’s injury worries have slowly been easing in recent weeks and we were handed a major triple boost in midweek when Rob Holding, Hector Bellerin and Kieran Tierney all made their first team returns.

Holding completed the full ninety minutes during the Carabao Cup win over Nottingham Forest after recovering from a knee ligament injury so he’s definitely available for the trip to Old Trafford.

Tierney came through an impressive 77 minutes on his debut after overcoming a groin injury while Bellerin came off the bench to play the final 15 minutes in his first appearance since damaging knee ligaments back in January.

Emery suggested after the game on Tuesday night that Bellerin may not be ready to start against Man Utd, however, it appears both he and Tierney came through the game unscathed and are no longer any sort of injury doubt as they haven’t been included in the official team news update for the first time this season.

Since they returned to full training earlier this month, the clubs medical department have been saying something along the lines of ‘In full training. Being assessed ahead of the game” in the team news updates. However, neither Tierney nor Bellerin are included in today’s update so it looks like they are now fully fit and available for selection.

Whether that means Emery selects them against United remains to be seen but one player who won’t be involved at Old Trafford is Alexandre Lacazette as he’s still recovering from an ankle injury.

Emile Smith Rowe is also after suffering a head injury against Forest in midweek while Dinos Mavropanos is now available for selection again after overcoming a troublesome groin problem.

The team news update on Arsenal.com said today:

Alex Lacazette
Left ankle. Alex continues to rehabilitate the injury to his left ankle and is likely to be back in action in October.

Emile Smith Rowe
Substituted just before half time on Tuesday as a precaution after a collision. Continues to be assessed and will follow a graded return back into full training.

Dinos Mavropanos
Now back in full training with the first-team squad and available for selection.

I hope Emery starts both Holding and Tierney against Man Utd but I wouldn’t risk Bellerin from the start as he’s only played 15 minutes of first team football in over nine months. Sadly, I fear the Arsenal boss will recall Sokratis, David Luiz and Sead Kolasinac meaning Tierney and Holding may be named on the bench.