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Team news update: Arsenal handed huge triple injury boost ahead of Villarreal

By on May 5, 2021

Arsenal have received a welcome triple injury boost ahead of Thursday night’s huge Europa League semi-final second leg against Villarreal. Here is the latest team news….

Kieran Tierney and Alexandre Lacazette back in training

Arsenal got some excellent news yesterday after it was revealed that Kieran Tierney and Alexandre Lacazette were back in full training with the rest of the squad at London Colney.

Tierney has been out for over a month with a knee injury while Lacazette has missed the last three matches due to a hamstring issue that he sustained against Fulham last month. Both players were initially expected to miss the Villarreal game.

However, the duo were back in training yesterday and the Daily Mail claims that Tierney and Lacazette could both be back in the squad to face Villarreal on Thursday night.

Mikel Arteta has now added weight to this claim after confirming at his press conference that Tierney and Lacazette will be assessed at training today before a final decision is made over their involvement.

Luiz shock?

The boss also provided a shock update on David Luiz today after appearing to suggest the centre-back could feature against Villarreal tomorrow night.

kieran tierney arsenal

Luiz limped off shortly after half-time during Arsenal’s win at Newcastle on Sunday and it looked like his season might be over. However, Arteta says the Brazilian is ‘feeling better’ and refused to rule out the possibility of Luiz being fit to face Villarreal.

Arteta told Arsenal.com:

on Alexandre Lacazette and Kieran Tierney…
Let’s see today how everybody is in training.

on David Luiz’s injury…
No [there is no update]. He was feeling better yesterday. Let’s see how he is today. We don’t know the extent of the injury yet.

on if there’s a chance he could play tomorrow…
With David it’s always possible because he wants to be available. He’s made an incredible effort to be in the position that he’s in today and the fact that he played against Newcastle was already a big bonus. He had surgery on his knee so with David, you never know.

It would be a HUGE boost if Luiz, Tierney and Lacazette were all fit. Luiz showed on Sunday how much we’ve missed him as his passing out from the back is important for Arsenal’s attacking play and we need goals tomorrow. However, I’d personally be shocked if Luiz is fit to start.

Tierney’s return would also be massive for Arsenal as he’s been sorely missed at left-back. The big concern is he’s been out for a month and will only have a couple of full training sessions under his belt so it might be a big ask for him to complete 90 minutes.

We head into tomorrow night’s crucial game off the back of a 2-1 defeat in the first leg so Arsenal desperately need to turn things around in order to book our place in the Europa League final.