Hector Bellerin finally made his return vs Nottingham Forest this week but according to Unai Emery, the right-back will not be starting in the Man United vs Arsenal game in the English Premier League.
The full-back has been on the sidelines for a couple of months now and on Tuesday he got around 15 minutes under his belt when he came on to replace Kieran Tierney.
And many people felt that Hector Bellerin did not start vs Forest simply because the manager was saving him for the Man United vs Arsenal clash which is set to be played on Monday.
Now though, the Spanish boss has made it clear that the defender is not likely to start this high-profile encounter primarily because he is not a 100 per cent fit to play a 90-minute match.
“I think no,” Emery told when asked about Bellerin’s prospect of starting the Man United vs Arsenal game.
“Maybe in his mind, yes, but we need to listen to the doctor and the doctor wants to do it progressively. Really tonight is the first day and the first minutes, and we are going to maybe share some minutes with the under-23s.
“It depends how he’s feeling, but in his mind, he’s feeling very well and I think the first minutes tonight were amazing for him.
“We are going to use him with Ainsley and Calum Chambers to help us in this position. The most important things about Hector are his attitude and experience. He’s wishing to help us.
“I think Hector’s attitude is a very big attitude to help us.
“When he was injured he was still a big mentality in the dressing room helping us. He assisted for Willock to score and also to have different options in the squad and first XI is good.
“We are going to play a lot of matches and tonight was his first 15 minutes (with us), which is really important. He wanted to play 90 and yesterday he told me he’s ready and wanted to play, but we decided to give him less minutes than 90.
“He played with the under-23s on Friday and also they are the first matches for him. We need to do it progressively and the doctor said to us that we are going to do it like that.”
Maitland-Niles picked up a red card during Arsenal’s last Premier League clash vs Villa and now that Hector Bellerin too has been ruled out then we believe it would be Callum Chambers who would start at right-back in the Man United vs Arsenal game.
