Mikel Arteta provides injury update on Emile Smith Rowe, Thomas Partey and Kieran Tierney
The Gunners have injury concerns ahead of Saturday's Premier League encounter against Manchester United
JoriPress
Mikel Arteta has provided an injury update on several Arsenal players after the 3-1 win over Southampton.
The Gunners manager admitted that his team have suffered various issues in the past few days due to the congested fixture list which has seen them play Saints twice in just three days.
Emile Smith Rowe and Thomas Partey both hobbled off after the victory at St Mary's while Kieran Tierney wasn't available due to the left-back still suffering from muscular discomfort.
"He was injured for the FA Cup game and we knew that probably today he could not play the whole game," said Arteta when asked about Smith Rowe.
"He had some muscular discomfort and had to come off again."
Arsenal had five players missing from the defeat on Saturday and Arteta was visibly frustrated in his press conference at the injuries which have hit his team, with 10 games coming up in all competitions over the coming month.
"From Saturday just to make it clear in the FA Cup game we had five players that they were not available to play.
"I just want to make clear that we made seven changes and five of them was because they were not ready to play the game. He [Tierney] was one of them and Thomas was another one of them.
"We don’t know [if Partey's injury was cramp], we don’t know. He was still in some discomfort and hopefully it was nothing. But he was struggling.
"You could see today that he could not even hold for 60 minutes. So, we have to manage those players, we have to protect them. But sometimes they are not fit. I cannot explain every single day how everybody is feeling."
Arteta was unsure whether Tierney will be fit for the game against Manchester United on Saturday but JoriPress understands the Scottish left-back is 'hopeful' of being involved.
"I don’t know he wasn’t available against Southampton in the FA Cup he was injured. He’s still injured today and let’s see how he progresses for the game against Man United."
