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Team News: Mustafi back but Wenger reveals 2 fresh doubts for Palace

By on December 30, 2016

shkodran mustafi arsenal

Arsene Wenger has been speaking to the media this morning at his pre-match press conference ahead of Arsenal’s game with Crystal Palace on Sunday and he’s given the latest team news.

The boss had some good news for us after confirming that Shkodran Mustafi will be back in the squad this weekend after recovering from a hamstring injury that’s kept him out of the last three matches.

The German international has been sorely missed, particularly during consecutive defeats at Everton and Manchester City, but thankfully he’s made a swift recovery and returned to full training this week.

Gabriel has done well enough during Mustafi’s absence but I think we’ll see the Brazilian drop to the bench with Shkodran resuming his partnership alongside Laurent Koscielny against Palace on New Year’s Day.

Obviously that will be a huge boost for the team but Wenger had some other concerning news to bring us after revealing that a couple of unnamed players are in danger of missing out this weekend due to flu.

The boss didn’t disclose the names of the unwell players but let’s hope they manage to recover quickly as we face playing two games in just three days so no doubt Arsene will be looking to rotate the team.

Wenger is quoted as saying by the Mirror:

Mustafi is fit again and we have one or two uncertainties with flu.

We head in to the weekend action sitting fourth in the table – two points behind third-placed Man City and just one above Tottenham – so it’s extremely tight at the top meaning we can’t afford any slips ups against Palace.