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Arsenal boss confirms fresh injury blow but defender could return vs Brighton

By mac14 on December 22, 2018

Arsenal boss Unai Emery has confirmed Nacho Monreal picked up an injury against Burnley today but Shkodran Mustafi could return against Brighton on Boxing Day.

Monreal has only recently recovered from a hamstring injury that kept him out for around two months and he started at centre-back alongside Sokratis against Burnley this afternoon.

However, the Spaniard limped off towards the end of the first half and was replaced by Stephan Lichtsteiner which forced Emery to switch to a back three as we went on to beat Burnley 3-1 thanks to a brace from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and a late strike from Alex Iwobi.

Speaking to reporters in his post match interview, Emery confirmed that Monreal had felt a muscle problem and he was taken off as a precaution. The defender is likely to miss the trip to Brighton on Boxing Day but isn’t expected to be out for too long, which is obviously good news.

The Arsenal boss also had a positive update on Mustafi as he feels the German could be back in contention to face Brighton on Wednesday evening after missing the last four games with a hamstring problem.

Laurent Koscielny was rested today after playing a lot of football following his return from a long-term injury but Emery says the defender should be back in the squad against Brighton which will boost our options at the back further.

When quizzed on Monreal’s injury, Emery said, according to Football London:

It was muscular, we decided to change and not take more risk with him. I hope it’s not too big and he cane be with us for the next week.

I don’t know if he can play at Brighton, but Koscielny can play I think and Mustafi is close also.