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Arsenal team news: Update on key man’s fitness, Laca & Tierney to return?

By on April 30, 2021

pierre-emerick aubameyang arsenal 2020

Arsenal will be back in Premier League action when we travel to St James’ Park to take on Newcastle United on Sunday afternoon.

Mikel Arteta has given an update on the fitness of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang ahead of the game and it doesn’t sound like our skipper will be ready to start this weekend.

Auba has only just returned to training after missing four games due to malaria – which he contracted while away with the Gabon squad during the international break in late March.

The striker was on the bench for Arsenal’s semi-final first leg against Villarreal on Thursday night but he came on to play just a few minutes towards the end of the disappointing 2-1 defeat.

Arteta has confirmed that Auba isn’t yet ready to start but will be checked over on Saturday to see how he is after his run-out last night. The boss told Arsenal.com:

on Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s fitness…
He hasn’t trained much, he is still not at the level in his physique that he should be to start. We will see again tomorrow how he is. Yesterday he could only play a few minutes but we managed to get him on the pitch, which is great news for us.

So it looks like Auba won’t be starting at Newcastle but what about Kieran Tierney or Alexandre Lacazette? Tierney has made a swift recovery from a knee injury while Laca is also back in training following a thigh problem.

They were hopeful of being in the squad against Villarreal but failed to prove their fitness so weren’t even named on the bench. Arteta didn’t provide any update on either Tierney or Laca today so it remains to be seen whether they’ll be involved on Sunday.

Considering they weren’t fit enough to make the squad last night, there’s very little chance either player will start against Newcastle but I suppose they could get some minutes off the bench if they’re passed fit. It would be a good ideal to build up their fitness ahead of the Villarreal second leg so let’s hope we see Tierney and Laca in the squad this weekend.