Arsenal have reportedly been dealt a major blow ahead of the FA Cup final with the news that defender Shkodran Mustafi looks set to miss out through injury.
Although the German centre-back has had his critics during his time at the Emirates Stadium – and deservedly so – he has improved of late, and will surely be missed as the Gunners take on Chelsea at Wembley on August 1st.
MORE: Arsenal revive bid to clinch transfer of Premier League star
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has been quoted by Goal as saying he doubts Mustafi will be back to take on the Blues, which could hand a possible advantage to Frank Lampard’s side in what had looked like being a pretty even match.
“I doubt it,” Arteta said in response to a question about whether Mustafi would be fit.
“We have to see how he evolves in the next few days, but at the moment I doubt it.”
Arsenal were strong in defence to cause a bit of an upset by beating Manchester City 2-0 in the semi-final recently, with Mustafi and David Luiz proving key performers in that game.
It remains to be seen who could replace Mustafi in the Arsenal line up, but they have the likes of Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Rob Holding and Sead Kolasinac as options in that position.
None of these name exactly inspire much confidence, however, but Arsenal fans can at least rely on the fact that Chelsea have looked incredibly shaky at the back themselves recently.
“The confidence is so crazy, crazy low” – One Premier League star fighting relegation doesn’t exactly sound optimistic… Click here to read more.