Arsenal will welcome Leeds United to the Emirates stadium on Sunday, but will do so without two of their key players.
Bernd Leno and David Luiz will both return to the squad after their red cards against Wolves, and while the former will be expected to slot straight into the first-team, the latter has stronger competition for his place.
The Gunners had appealed the Brazilian’s ban, but to no avail, despite Arteta’s initial statement that there wasn’t any contact.
Arsenal confirm that Thomas Partey is the first of two players who won’t be fit to play this weekend. The Ghanaian limped out of the match with Aston Villa (again) with a strain on his hamstring, and will continue to be assessed into next week.
Kieran Tierney also remains out having struggled with a strain in his right-leg of late, but we are hoping he should be reintegrated into full training next week.
It will be interesting if Nicolas Pepe is given the nod (pun intended) to start against the side he picked up a red card against not too long ago, as we definitely cannot afford to finish the match without the full 11 as we look to overturn back-to-back defeats.
Leno could well prove to be a big plus on the day, but I feel that Kieran Tierney will remain the biggest miss this weekend, although we should still have more than enough to come away from Elland Road with the win secured.
Patrick