Arsenal will take on West Ham at the London Stadium this week and Unai Emery will be looking to pick up his third straight win after that 5-1 loss to Liverpool.
The Gunners are currently fifth on the Premier League table – three points behind fourth-placed Chelsea and a win would help them maintain that gap.
But going into the game, Arsenal’s boss has a series of injury concerns which could force him to name a makeshift defence once again.
A number of their defenders have been recovering from injuries but the club have announced that most of them have returned back to full training meaning they should be available for selection against the Hammers.
Rob Holding picked up an ACL injury late last year which has ruled him out for the rest of the season but players like Laurent Koscielny and Shkodran Mustafi have made it back to full fitness.
Koscielny suffered a back spasm during while warming up vs Blackpool but the Frenchman has reported back to training as per the club’s official website.
Shkodran Mustafi was out with a right hamstring injury but his Koscielny he too has reported back to training and should start in central defence vs the Hammers.
Nacho Monreal has been out for a couple of weeks now but he should start in left-back role vs West Ham on Saturday.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan though is still out injured and the club have confirmed the Armenian will only return sometime next month.
Mesut Ozil has recovered from a knee injury but we doubt is Unai Emery will name him in his first XI on Saturday.
Right-back Hector Bellerin should also start since he seems to have recovered from an injury in his left calf.
All these returns are certainly good news for Unai Emery and the manager will finally be able to name a three-man defensive line which does not include Granit Xhaka.
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