Arsenal team news: Injury updates on Pepe, Holding, Ceballos, Saka & more

By mac14 on November 21, 2019

Here is the latest team news ahead of Arsenal’s Premier League clash with Southampton at the Emirates on Saturday afternoon….

Arsenal will be desperate to get their season back on track after falling off the pace following a 2-0 defeat at Leicester City before the international break but unfortunately we’ve been dealt an injury blow ahead of the game.

The club confirmed on Arsenal.com on Thursday that Dani Ceballos is facing a spell on the sidelines after the hamstring injury he sustained against Vitoria earlier this month was worse than first thought.

Ceballos limped off early in the second half during the Europa League draw in Portugal and Unai Emery initially hoped it was only a minor issue, however, the club have revealed the midfielder has been ruled out until mid-December.

Sead Kolasinac could also miss the visit of Southampton on Saturday after picking up a hamstring injury while away with the Bosnian squad this week. Kola didn’t train with the first team today but the injury is only a small problem so he should be back in action soon.

A statement on Arsenal.com confirmed:

Dani Ceballos
Left hamstring. Sustained during the Vitoria SC (a) match on November 6. Aiming to return to full training mid-December.

Sead Kolasinac
Left hamstring. Returned from international duty with tight left hamstring. Being assessed ahead of Saturday’s match.

Emery later held his pre-match press conference this afternoon and told reporters that Nicolas Pepe didn’t take part in full training on Thursday after arriving back late from international duty. However, the attacker is expected to train on Friday and should be in contention to face the Saints.

Rob Holding and Bukayo Saka also weren’t in training today due to ‘small injuries’ but Emery is hopeful they will be able to train on Friday and put themselves in contention for Arsenal’s game with Southampton.

Emery told Arsenal.com:

Today, we were here with every player but some players for example, Pepe, arrived late because his travel was long. He didn’t train today with the group, but he trained after our work, inside. Tomorrow I think he’s going to be ready for Saturday.

Some players – Kolasinac, Bukayo and Rob Holding – didn’t train this morning because they have some small, small injuries. Not important injuries. Maybe tomorrow they could be ready for training and to be ready for Saturday, but we are going to wait until tomorrow morning and the last training.

So Arsenal have a few minor knocks heading into the weekend but the Ceballos news is a blow as he’ll now miss five or six games including Premier League matches with Southampton, Norwich, Brighton and West Ham. Let’s hope he recovers quickly and is available for the visit of Manchester City on December 15th.