8 months ago
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ARSENAL have been handed a major boost ahead of the second leg of their quarter-final clash with Bayern Munich.
That’s after another Bayern player picked up an injury ahead of their clash on Wednseday.
Getty
GettyBayern managed to sweep FC Koln aside yesterday with a 2-0 win thanks to goals from Raphael Guerreiro and Thomas Muller.
But winger Kingsley Coman picked up an adductor muscle injury in the match and had to be withdrawn in the 50th minute.
The club have confirmed Coman is likely to miss the Arsenal game.
In addition to France international Coman, Thomas Tuchel confirmed he has two more injury problems ahead of the crunch clash.
He told Sky: “The big downside to the whole game is the injury to Kingsley Coman. It makes me very sad because I know how hard he worked and how important he is for us.
“First Serge Gnabry is out, then he [Coman] and Leroy Sane are doubts [for Wednesday].”
In addition to the three injuries to Bayern’s wingers, they will also be without another key player due to suspension.
Alphonso Davies‘ yellow against Arsenal in the first leg means he will miss the game at the Allianz.
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Manuel Neuer is also having his minutes managed having only returned from injury for the first leg against Arsenal.
The German no1 was rested in Bayern’s victory over Koln.
Thomas Muller was asked about Bayern’s injury concerns going into their second leg with Arsenal.
The forward insisted he had seen the club cope without its stars before and said: “It’s not the first time in my time here that we lost important players towards the quarter-finals and semi-finals of the Champions League, that was the case with Rib [Ribéry] and Rob [Robben] from time to time.”
How Arteta made Arsenal horrible again, with Tony Pulis tactic and gentle star turned into Diego Costa-style hate figure
By Dave Kidd
BOTTLERS, chokers, shandy-drinking southern softies.
These were the charges levelled at Arsenal when they blew the title last season.
And even if the actual reason they failed was because William Saliba got injured and Rob Holding had to start, Mikel Arteta clearly took those accusations to heart.
If his team are not crowned champions next month, the Gunners boss has categorically ensured that they won’t go down being accused of nicey-niceyness.
Because, as well as being thrillingly entertaining and free-scoring when they want to be, this season’s Arsenal are also thoroughly horrible.
They are not here to make friends. They are not interested in being anybody’s second-favourite team.
And so, six days after stink-bombing the Etihad with a display of Mourinho-esque anti-football for a 0-0 draw, Arsenal turned up at the home of former bogey-team Brighton and s***housed their way to a thoroughly impressive 3-0 win.
How wonderful for the travelling Gooners to witness Ben White — against his former club — going down as if he’d taken a bullet to his neck when Brighton’s Pervis Estupinan brushed against him.
White is renowned as a gentle and decent bloke, intelligent enough to challenge the zeitgeist and claim there might be things in life other than football.
And yet suddenly he’s become some Diego Costa-style anti-hero hate figure, his wife goading the masses by posting social-media pictures of them playing a childish card game on a sun lounger after he’d refused an international call-up.
Because Arsenal are horrible again. Even Ben White is a villain.
And that might just be Arteta’s greatest triumph.
Click here to read Dave Kidd’s column in full.
To read more from Dave Kidd, click here.
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