Arsenal boss Unai Emery is facing a nervous wait on the fitness of his defence ahead of Liverpool’s visit to the Emirates Stadium on Saturday.
Hector Bellerin, Nacho Monreal, Sead Kolasinac and Sokratis Papastathopoulos are all being assessed ahead of Saturday's game as the injury struggles that have plagued the Arsenal backline over recent weeks show no sign of easing.
Bellerin limped out of Arsenal’s 2-2 draw at Crystal Palace with a muscle injury and played no part in the EFL Cup tie against Blackpool this week. His absence could prove to be the most worrying of all for Emery, with the Spaniard’s pace crucial if Arsenal are to repel Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino.
Greek centre-back Sokratis is also a doubt with an ankle injury. Emery has been forced to make do and mend at left back with Nacho Monreal and Sead Kolasinac sidelined with hamstring injuries, deploying Stephan Lichtsteiner and Granit Xhaka in the role to varying degrees of success.
Kolasinac returned to training earlier this week and is believed to be ahead of Monreal in his recovery. Ainsley Maitland-Niles will also be an option at left-back having made his first appearance since the opening weekend of the season in the 2-1 win over Blackpool.
|There are doubts but we are going to wait to see if we can use one or another player in the full-back positions," Emery said. "But if they cannot play we are going to play another player. We will play 11 against 11.
"I think now we have a good spirit and excited players for tomorrow. For me, the players are okay and we are going to play tomorrow."
Meanwhile club captain Laurent Koscielny is continuing his recovery from the Achilles injury that has sidelined him since May and rejoined first-team training late last month.
