Arsenal are facing an injury crisis ahead of Manchester United’s visit to the Emirates on Wednesday night. The two teams will face off for a second time this season. Their meeting at Old Trafford earlier this season finished in a 1-1 draw.
Manager Mikel Arteta is without the services of several defenders going into the fixture with Kieran Tierney, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Sead Kolasinac, and Calum Chambers all ruled out through injury.
Chambers is facing a possible end to his season due to an ACL injury. According to Football.London, Sokratis and Rob Holding returned to training on New Year’s Eve, giving the Gunners a chance of having the latter defender back in the team. Chambers’ injury could see Arsenal dip into the transfer market this month to find a defender to fill the void created by so many defensive injuries. Due to the injuries facing Arsenal, they have been linked with a transfer for RB Leipzig’s Dayot Upamecano.
Arteta will hope to have Holding in the team to face Manchester United as well as Hector Bellerin, Gabriel Martinelli, Dani Ceballos, and Granit Xhaka. All five players could make the matchday squad for the fixture. However, Arsenal’s medical staff could hold back any of the four for the weekend’s FA Cup third-round match against Leeds United.
Manchester United injuries
Manchester United also face injuries ahead of the clash at the Emirates. Manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will be without Scott McTominay, Marcos Rojo, Eric Bailly, and Timothy Fosu-Mensah. The manager is still waiting on confirmation that midfielder Paul Pogba will be fit to face the Gunners.
Pogba still has an ankle/foot problem that is limiting his participation with the first team. According to Teamtalk, Pogba will miss Wednesday night’s game versus Arsenal due to Solskjaer being fed-up with the midfielder. Pogba travelled to Paris over the weekend and played in a charity football match. Despite playing in the charity match, Pogba is listed as injured heading into the game.
Arsenal are unbeaten in their last two matches in the league versus Manchester United. Their last meeting at the Emirates ended in a 2-0 win last season.
