Arsenal received a major blow this evening as Ainsley Maitland-Niles out for 2 months with injury.
Arsenal’s boss Unai Emery suffered a defeat to defending champions Manchester City on the opening day of the Premier League. Raheem Sterling and Bernardo Silva struck one in each half to take three points home on the back of a 2-0 score line. With this result, Emery’s era as Arsenal head coach got off to a poor start.
The former Paris Saint-Germain manager deployed Ainsley Maitland-Niles at left back. This was due to injuries to the customary duo of Sead Kolasinac and Nacho Monreal. However, just 35 minutes into the match at the Emirates Stadium, Maitland Niles suffered a fracture which is set to rule him out for a period of six to eight weeks.
BREAKING: @Arsenal confirm Ainsley Maitland-Niles ruled out for six to eight weeks with a fractured leg. #SSN pic.twitter.com/OSh4JStA4v
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) August 16, 2018
The young midfielder joins the likes of Laurent Koscielny, Sead Kolasinac and Carl Jenkinson who are all indefinitely ruled out with injuries for a long length. Thankfully, Danny Welbeck and Nacho Monreal are back in full training and will be in contention to be selected to Arsenal’s visit to the Stamford Bridge this weekend.
With that said, Unai Emery also confirmed last week that he had been experimenting with Danny Welbeck at the left full back’s position. So if Nacho Monreal is not fit enough, the Spanish manager has another option to choose from ahead of a trick trip to west London.
Wenger’s successor was subject to the similar criticism as him. On the other hand, Petr Cech had a game to forget. In spite of making more passes than any other game under Arsene Wenger, he lost possession on 11 separate events.
“When we are thinking in an attacking moment, I want the goalkeeper thinking for that, he is the first,” Emery said to Sky Sports ahead of this season.
“The same when we are thinking defensively, I want our strikers to be thinking: ‘We need to protect the goalkeepers’. I want those two moments to feel the same for all players.
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Emery is expected to deliver fresh news regarding his team ahead of Saturday’s match on Thursday afternoon.
