Arsenal injury news: Crucial defender misses Europa League training

Arsenal come up against Sporting in the Europa League tomorrow. It’s been a while since they played in the Europa League but you’d expect Mikel Arteta to field a weaker lineup than usual, since his priority is the ongoing Premier League title race with Manchester City.

It’s thought the likes of Jakub Kiwior might get the nod, but he’d be helped by players injured or running low on fitness. Thankfully for Arsenal fans, some journalists have gone covert and confirmed which players showed up to training and which didn’t.

As expected, Eddie Nketiah and Leandro Trossard haven’t trained – they’re likely to miss the Sporting match due to minor knocks.

According to The Boot Room, Kieran Tierney was not witnessed at training. After further inspection from Charles Watts, it was confirmed he was missing due to illness. I mean, it’s no surprise when he was wearing shorts and a t-shirt when it was freezing cold in the winter.

Kieran Tierney would’ve likely played in the Europa League as Arteta likes to rotate his squad. It’s hard for the Scotsman to get game time in the Premier League with Zinchenko at the top of the pecking order.

I don’t think this will be anything to worry about. Tierney may miss the game tomorrow, but he’ll be back in no time. After all, he’s from Scotland, therefore his immune system should be hard as nails.

Indeed, Watts confirmed it was a blow, to both the player and club. It was expected he’d start and he rarely passes up the opportunity to impress his authorities. It’ll be difficult for Tierney to get game time, however, hopefully he’s fit by the time the second leg comes around.

To read about who Arsenal fans think will start in defence, click here.

What do you make of this news? Would Tierney have made your starting lineup?