Arsenal have been extremely fortunate on the injury front this season, and there are many fringe players that are struggling to get any minutes on the pitch at all.
But Saturday’s opponents Leeds are suffering from an incredible list of absentees ahead of the home game against the Gunners.
Patrick Bamford, Kalvin Phillips, Liam Cooper, Rodrigo, Robin Koch and Pascal Struijk were all missing from the team that was destroyed 7-0 by Man City on Tuesday, and during the game midfielder Jamie Shackleton had to be withdrawn, and it is now being reported that he will miss Saturday’s meeting with Arsenal with an Achilles injury. Bielsa also revealed that Dan James also won’t make it due to an abductor muscle problem.
To add insult to injury (geddit!) Junior Firpo picked up his fifth booking of the season, which means an automatic one-match suspension for this game.
Leeds are in a bad enough state as it is, as they are dropping down the table and are now just five points ahead of relegation, and their confidence must be shot after their 7-0 drubbing on Tuesday.
Surely there couldn’t be a better time to go to Elland Road, but a note of caution is that Everton were having similar problems last week but they still managed to overturn Mikel Arteta’s young side.
It is also a fact that Leeds are a better team at home and are unbeaten in their last five games (W2D3) in front of their own fans.
Hopefully, Arteta can get a fully fit team up to Yorkshire and we can watch Arsenal consolidate their position in the Top Four for another week….