Pain in the Arsenal
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Arsenal Vs Eintracht Frankfurt: 5 key players to watch – Fountains of youth

By Andrew Dowdeswell

LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 28: Reiss Nelson of Arsenal in action during the Emirates Cup match between Arsenal and Olympique Lyonnais at the Emirates Stadium on July 28, 2019 in London, England. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 28: Reiss Nelson of Arsenal in action during the Emirates Cup match between Arsenal and Olympique Lyonnais at the Emirates Stadium on July 28, 2019 in London, England. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images) /
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Arsenal, Rob Holding
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND – DECEMBER 05: Rob Holding of Arsenal receives medical treatment during the Premier League match between Manchester United and Arsenal FC at Old Trafford on December 5, 2018 in Manchester, United Kingdom. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images) /

1. Rob Holding

Finally, the return of Rob Holding. The centre-back was really beginning to shine last season. 16 games played, unbeaten in all of them, and Unai Emery starting to trust him as the anchor of the Arsenal defence, the future looked bright for Holding. And then disaster struck. An ACL tear. The best part of 10 months out of action.

Holding has been in first-team training for the past two weeks. He is yet to play a senior game, though has featured for the under-23s, but has travelled with the matchday squad and is in theory in line to start on Thursday with Sokratis being left at home.

While Emery may still play a cautious game with the man who he could yet build his defence around, it would be surprising if Holding was not at the very least introduced from the off the bench to aid his match fitness.

Arsenal Vs Eintracht Frankfurt: Predicted starting XI. dark. Next

Seeing him back in an Arsenal shirt will be wonderful. Injuries are a horrible thing. But witnessing a player overcome them and return to prominence is utterly joyous. Holding is yet to prove that he is fully over his ACL tear, but Thursday will be a major step in the right direction. And that will be lovely to watch indeed.