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Arsenal team news: Ozil among 7 ruled out of Newcastle trip, 3 others face late tests

By on August 9, 2019

mesut ozil arsenal 2018

The season hasn’t even started yet and Unai Emery is already facing a selection headache as at least seven players will miss Arsenal’s Premier League opener against Newcastle on Sunday.

As we know, Hector Bellerin is still out as he’s not due to resume full training until October as the right-back continues to recover from a serious knee ligament injury that he sustained back in January.

Rob Holding has begun training again against recovering from his knee ligament injury but the centre-back isn’t match fit yet and won’t be involved at St James’ Park this weekend.

Unfortunately it’s been confirmed by the club that Dinos Mavropanos is out for between 6-8 weeks due to a groin injury so his frustrating time with injury problems continues after barely playing last season.

Youngster Emile Smith Rowe is also unavailable this weekend as he’s still recovering from a groin injury but he’s hoping to be back in full training inside a fortnight.

As we reported earlier, new signing Kieran Tierney is facing up to six weeks on the sidelines with an on-going groin injury so we won’t be seeing the Scottish international in an Arsenal shirt for a while, which is a huge blow.

To make matters worse, some disturbing news has emerged this evening regarding Mesut Ozil and Sead Kolasinac as a statement released by Arsenal confirmed the duo won’t be travelling to Newcastle this weekend following further ‘security incidents’.

The police are investigating the incidents and we don’t have any concrete details as to what’s happened but you’d assume it was related to the car jacking attempt that occurred last month. Some things are more important than football and I hope Ozil, Kolasinac and their families are all okay.

alexandre lacazette

Their absence means Arsenal will be without at least seven players on Sunday and it could be worse as Alexandre Lacazette will face a late fitness test on an ankle injury that kept him out of our last two pre-season games.

New signing Nicolas Pepe will also need to be assessed as he’s not match fit having only done limited training following his late arrival after the African Cup of Nations this summer.

Mohamed Elneny is also a doubt due to a lack of match practice so Emery could be without TEN players if Laca, Pepe and Elneny are ruled out of the Newcastle match this weekend.

An update on Arsenal.com said:

Alex Lacazette
Right ankle. Will continue to be assessed ahead of Sunday’s match at Newcastle.

Nicolas Pepe
Regaining full match fitness following late return from African Cup of Nations. Decision to be made on participation for Sunday.

Hector Bellerin
Left knee. Continuing with on-field rehabilitation. Aiming to participate in full training in October.

Rob Holding
Left knee. Continuing with on-field rehabilitation and now participating in full training with the first team.

Dinos Mavropanos
Groin. Continues to receive treatment and further assessment. Will be out of action for at least 6-8 weeks.

Emile Smith Rowe
Groin. Progressing well in training and aiming to re-join the first team squad in 1-2 weeks

Mohamed Elneny
Regaining full match fitness following late return from African Cup of Nations. Decision to be made on participation for Sunday.

This is far from the ideal situation heading into the season opener as the squad will be severely stretched but we should still be able to put out a starting eleven capable of bringing home the three points.

Let’s pray Lacazette and Pepe are able to be part of the squad at the very least to give us options from the bench.