Arsenal vs Villarreal: Potential triple injury boost

Arsenal face Villarreal on Thursday with it all to do in order to salvage their season and book a spot in the Europa League final. If they are to overturn their 2-1 deficit against Unai Emery’s side in the second leg, the return from injury for a key trio would help.

How injured actually is everyone? Over the past week it’s become increasingly difficult to tell: one minute there are players nearing returns and then a few hours later they’ll be missing the next couple of games.

This is of course in reference to Alexandre Lacazette and Kieran Tierney, whose timelines have changed in complexity each time the manager speaks, adding uncertainty in both the fans’ minds and his opposite number, Emery. The latter quite possibly being very intentional.

Neither of the pair could even make the bench in the Premier League win over Newcastle as Mikel Arteta confirmed they hadn’t even trained at that point, throwing a spanner in the works for their involvement in Europe. Indeed, they were said to miss the ‘upcoming games’.

Arsenal vs Villarreal: Potential triple injury boost with David Luiz, Kieran Tierney and Alexandre Lacazette.

Now with just two days of training in their legs, the situation has suddenly changed. Speaking in his pre-match press conference, Arteta addressed fitness concerns.

"“Let’s see today how everybody is in training,” he said. “We will see today [how Tierney and Lacazette fare].”"

The Daily Mail added that the latter is most likely to make the bench at the Emirates Stadium with Tierney too soon to risk, although even Lacazette’s presence in the squad will provide a welcome boost.

What about David Luiz, though? The guy who limped off against Newcastle with a serious looking hamstring problem? Miraculously, Arteta refused to rule the Brazilian out of the tie, insisting there was scope for him to feature having insisted he was fit the play.

"“With David, it is always possible” Arteta added. “He was already saying that he wanted to be available. He has made an incredible effort to be in the position that he is. With David you never know.”"

It would be remarkable if that were the case, but somehow unbelievable. From a potential last appearance for the club to suddenly back in contention, either the mind games have got out of hand or physio Bruno Mazziotti has a magic touch. We wait in hope.