Absentees for the Premier League clash between Arsenal and Manchester United could hit double figures. The Gunners have been plagued by injuries this season and though Mikel Arteta’s side finally looked to be over that crisis, three fresh issues have since emerged.
For the win over West Ham Thomas Partey and Mikel Merino both missed out because of injury with Arteta’s pre-match update suggesting the issues are minor. Speaking to Sky Sports, he said: “Unfortunately they both picked (up) an injury and the game came too early and they couldn’t be part of the squad.”
Another problem then came to light for Arsenal with Gabriel Magalhaes, after scoring and winning a penalty, going off at half time with Arteta revealing it was related to the issue he felt against Sporting CP earlier that week. Ahead of facing Man United at Emirates Stadium, Arteta was asked for the latest on all three doubts.
We’re gonna have a meeting this afternoon,” he admitted in a press conference. “We have done a training session. We monitored and kept some players away from certain activities. After that meeting I will decide which ones are fit and available and who will start.”
While that trio could all return, Ben White and Takehiro Tomiyasu are guaranteed to miss out with Arteta not expecting either to feature before the New Year. As for their opponents, Ruben Amorim, like Arteta, has been dealt a fresh triple blow.
The first two occurred in the 4-0 win against Everton with Kobbie Mainoo and Lisandro Martinez both picking up their fifth yellow cards of the season and thus are unavailable due to suspension, despite the duo having only just returned from injury.
