As always, an impressive victory this week always comes with the disastrous injury news, and this week is no exception.
Thomas Partey and Emile Smith-Rowe both were subbed off, while Keiran Tierney didn’t even make the game through injury, a huge set of worries ahead of our huge game against Manchester United this weekend.
However, Arteta has played down any real issues:
“Smith Rowe was injured for the FA Cup game. He had some muscular discomfort and had to come off again…”
When quizzed on Partey, Artekkers said:
“We don’t know if it was cramp but it was a struggle…”
Both quotes suggesting that things weren’t actually too bad, so fingers crossed that the pair plus Kieran Tierney will return in time for the weekend.
It’s also yet to be seen whether or not Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will be back for the game. He took to Twitter today to explain his recent, mysterious absence which caused him to miss the two Southampton games. He said that his Mum is ill and he needed to be with her, she is much better though, so fingers crossed the mercurial Gabonese will be back for the game. His tweet read as follows:
— AUBA⚡️ (@Aubameyang7) January 27, 2021