Arsenal have plenty of injuries ahead of Fulham clash on Tuesday
It has been an injury-stricken season for Arsenal and the Gunners face the risk of being without the services of some of their key defenders when they play host to Fulham on New Year’s Day.
Arsenal suffered a humiliating 5-1 defeat to Liverpool away from home on Saturday, with fingers being pointed at some lacklustre defending at the back. Some clumsy clearing by the centre-backs allowed Roberto Firmino to cancel out Ainsley-Maitland Niles’ opener before Sadio Mane took advantage of some sloppy passing at the back to set up the Brazilian for the second.
The Gunners were at the receiving end of a couple of contentious penalty calls from referee Michael Oliver, however, lack of stability at the back once again proved to be the factor of Arsenal’s undoing. Unai Emery has been forced to field a makeshift defence for quite a few games this season due to the recurrent injuries to Nacho Monreal, Shkodran Mustafi and Hector Bellerin and he might once again have to manage without some of his key players at the back.
Mustafi returned from a hamstring strain to start the game at Anfield but he was forced off at halftime with a recurrence of his injury while Monreal is yet to make an appearance after suffering a hamstring problem on December 22. Bellerin suffered a thigh injury against Southampton a couple of weeks backs and is doubtful to play a part on Tuesday.
Those injuries might once again force Emery to rely on the out-of-form Stephan Lichtsteiner and Laurent Koscielny at the back while Mesut Ozil is set to be assessed ahead of the Fulham game after missing the trip to Liverpool with a knee injury.
