Arsenal reveal crucial Tierney & Lacazette injury updates

Arsenal were preparing for the biggest game of their season against Villarreal on Thursday in their Europa League semi-final second leg against Villarreal, with Alexandre Lacazette and Kieran Tierney expected to make crucial returns.

Facing Newcastle in the Premier League on Sunday, there was hope that the pair could feature in some capacity to earn some valuable minutes ahead of the tie.

With domestic action pushed down to the bottom of the pile in terms of importance, Mikel Arteta opted to change almost his entire side bar starts for Martin Odegaard, Granit Xhaka and Dani Ceballos.

However, there was no space for either Lacazette or Tierney, with the manager revealing some crushing news on the pair ahead of the visit of Unai Emery’s side.

Arsenal reveal crucial Kieran Tierney & Alexandre Lacazette injury updates ahead of Europa League semi-final with Villarreal

The Spaniard revealed to Sky Sports that neither player had trained ahead of the St James’ Park meeting, adding further that it’s unlikely the pair will be available for the ‘next few games’.

A bizarre situation has unfolded where the duo have gone from being ‘in contention’ for the first leg against Villarreal to now no longer being available for either Newcastle, the second leg and the upcoming fixtures.

Given that is the case, it strongly suggests that the previous update was mere mind games from the club and manager. Perhaps with an eye on unsettling Emery in his approach to the game, a move that clearly didn’t pay off, Arsenal are now back to finding solutions to the left-back issue.

It means another run out for Xhaka in the position seems inevitable after he continued in the role in the first leg and on Tyneside, despite the move being exploited fully by the Spanish side at Estadio de la Ceramica.

With Cedric no longer in the manager’s thoughts, Arsenal will have to find a way of protecting their left side more, a need helped by the absence of Dani Ceballos for the clash through suspension. It also means Mohamed Elneny looks set to partner Thomas Partey in midfield.

Some positive news, however, is that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was deemed fit to start in Newcastle after recovering from malaria and will get some much-needed minutes into his leg ahead of his expected start on Thursday.

The Tierney ans Lacazette news is nonetheless baffling.