We are very used to seeing Arsenal defenders in the treatment room, but the injury to Rob Holding at Man United was sure to give us even more limited options with Koscielny, Mavropanos and Monreal also in the injury list. But now Unai Emery has announced that our captain Koscielny is now ready to rejoin the first team squad after a couple of outings for the reserves, and if he quickly gets back to his best it will be real boost for the team.
Koss the Boss hasn’t played for us since the Europa League semi-final last season, but Emery is very confident he is now ready. The Spaniard said on Arsenal.com: “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.
“He gives us experience, quality, personality,” Emery added. “We need every player and we need also for him to train with us. The next step is playing. He can play with us and be with us normally.”
This is just perfect timing as, although Holding is still being assessed, the consensus is that the youngster could be on the sidelines for quite some time. In fact we may even start keeping a few more clean sheets with Koscielny leading from the back….
Admin