Photo: Arsenal forced to make a late line-up alteration as star injured in the warm up vs Villarreal

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There had been a bit of talk about Kiernan Tierney returning to the Arsenal squad for the game tonight, but it would’ve been a big ask to throw him straight in from the start.

He’s returning from a knee injury and it only sounds like he stepped back into full training this week, while he was clearly only judged to be fit enough for the bench as he was left out of the initial starting XI.

Granit Xhaka was set to start at left back again which may not be the best thing for the team, but this is far from ideal for Tierney as he’s been put in from the start at tremendously late notice:

If he’s fit then this does improve the team and it’s their biggest game of the season so risks need to be taken, but hopefully this doesn’t cause any further issues.

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