Unai Emery Confirms Arsenal Star Will Start Against Qarabag

By The Editor
on 12th December 2018

Unai Emery confirms Laurent Koscielny will start against Qarabag…

Arsenal head coach Unai Emery has confirmed that Laurent Koscielny against Qarabag in our final Europa League game as the Frencham eases his way back into first-team action, ESPN reports.

Koscielny has been out of action since May after rupturing his achilles at Atletico Madrid as we reached the semi-final of the competition, and his return is a timely one.

We’re in the midst of a crisis as centre-back after our last-ditch win at Huddersfield with Shkodran Mustafi and Sokratis suspended for our trip to Southampton on Sunday.

Also, Rob Holding is out for the season with a cruciate ligament injury while Dinos Mavropanos hasn’t played a game all season due to a groin problem.

It means Koscielny remains our only available central defender for that trip to the south coast, a stadium we don’t have the most favourable recent history in.

“We respect this competition and we respect Qarabag and tomorrow our objective is to win and we are going to give players chances tomorrow to take responsibility, take rhythm and take confidence,” Emery told reporters when asked about his team selection.

“Also, because we are going to play a lot of matches, in the next 10 days we play four matches – each of them very important … it is in our planning to start with Laurent Koscielny. We are going to look also if he can play 90 minutes or less minutes in this game.”

It’s not ideal to be in a position where we have to rely on Koscielny without the knowledge of the shape he’s in following such a big injury.

At 33-years of age, his best years are behind him and with the achilles area generally known for where a player generates their pace – something which could seriously affect the Frenchman.

Hopefully, he comes through unscathed.