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Arsenal star expected to miss rest of season, Ramsey update and team news latest

By on December 6, 2018

It looks like Arsenal have been dealt a major blow as according to various reports today, Rob Holding is expected to miss the rest of the season with a crucial knee ligament injury.

Holding was stretchered off midway through the first half during our 2-2 draw with Manchester United on Wednesday night after suffering a knee injury during a challenge with Marcus Rashford near the touchline.

Unai Emery confirmed at his pre-match press conference this afternoon ahead of the Huddersfield game that the initial news ‘is not good’ but he refused to give any official update until full test results had come back.

However, the Sun are one of several media outlets reporting that Holding sustained a cruciate knee ligament injury against United and is expected to be ruled out for the rest of the season.

Obviously we should wait for official confirmation from Arsenal but the Mirror are also carrying a similar story while I heard on talkSPORT they’ve also been told Holding has done his cruciate so it looks like we’ve lost another player for the foreseeable future.

It will be a huge blow as the 23-year-old has been in great form under Emery this season and has established himself in the first team so I’ll be gutted if these reports prove to be accurate.

The only good news is that Laurent Koscielny is on the verge of making his comeback with Emery suggesting the 33-year-old could be in the squad against Huddersfield with a view to starting against Qarabag next week.

Nacho Monreal is also back in full training while Stephan Lichtsteiner is capable of playing in a back three so at least we have cover for Holding and options to play alongside Sokratis and Shkodran Mustafi.

Emery has been speaking at his pre-match press conference this afternoon ahead of the Huddersfield game and he’s confirmed that Ramsey’s injury isn’t thought to be serious after he was forced off against United with a twisted ankle.

There was also an update on Mesut Ozil and the playmaker continued to work individually with the physio at London Colney today as he looks to recover from an apparent back problem that’s kept him out of the last three games. A final decision over his availability this weekend will be made on Friday.

Here is what Emery told Arsenal.com:

on Rob Holding…
We are waiting. The club can give us communication about this. The best news for me is [being] calm, but the doctors are looking at him and they are going to communicate with us.

on if he fears a long-term injury…
At the moment, the first news is not good.

on Ramsey’s injury…
It’s a different injury. It’s smaller than Rob’s. Today it’s very early because this morning we have been working, but with the players who didn’t play yesterday. Tomorrow we’ll train before the game on Saturday and that’s the moment you can know if the players will be OK or not for Saturday.

on Koscielny and his expected return date…
We are on a gradual way with him. He’s played two matches with the under-23s. He played 85 minutes on Tuesday and our plan is that he can maybe be with us in the 18 on Saturday. Maybe he can play against Qarabag in the Europa League. He’s working with us with very big performances every day in training. He’s playing for the under-23s with a good feeling. The next step is for him to be with us.

on Ozil and his expected return date…
He had backache and now he’s working with the physio. We are going to look at when he can come back with us.

on if Ozil could be involved on Saturday…
This morning he worked with the physiotherapist on the pitch, running and touching the ball. Tomorrow will be the decision.

Elsewhere, Granit Xhaka is available again after serving his one-match suspension so he should be recalled against Huddersfield but Danny Welbeck is obviously still out with a broken ankle.