Arsenal have a lot of injury updates to look at, as we head into the international break.
Spurs and the Gunners met in the weekend, both suffering their first defeat of the campaign and then adding a draw. They will hope to see the future clashes going their familiar way. Arsenal suffered a crunching defeat in the hands of Liverpool at Anfield, the ground which carries no happy memory for the Gunners as of late. Their fiercest opponents failed to overturn a first-half deficit against a stubborn Newcastle side.
Tottenham, having reached the champions league final last season, will hope to go a season-high and better their performance. Arsenal will be willing to enter this competition finally that they are craving for last two seasons.
With all the derby hype still going on, Unai Emery’s side is wishing to get back the pupils on the sidelines as soon as possible. Emery has lot of crucial players to make his tactics pay which includes the like of new arrival Kiren Tierney. Coming from Celtic, the left-back has to stall his debut because of his double hernia operation in the summer.
He had his first surgery back in May and the next in the month of July so his fitness is a big issue. Tierney needs a long rest and of course, did not feature in the derby. Despite that, he may be back a month after if his treatment goes right.
On the opposite flank, Hector Bellerin battles his injury that he suffered last season. He tore his cruciate ligament against Chelsea in the league and is not expected to return until October. This means Maitland-Niles will continue to be a prominent figure in that position at least for the first half of the season.
Konstantinos Mavropanas is also not returning until October. The 21-year-old Greek defender missed the entirety of the last season because of the groin strain he suffered in that period of time. According to the reports, he didn’t feature for the preseason for Arsenal declaring his fitness needs more work now.
