An explanation for the respective absences of Arsenal pair Kieran Tierney and Nicolas Pepe from the club’s matchday squad to face Crystal Palace on Monday evening has been provided.
Mikel Arteta’s troops, of course, are set to mark their post-international break return to action in less than an hour’s time.
A trip across London to take on capital rivals Palace and club icon Patrick Vieira lies in store, in the first of what is set to prove a season-defining 10-game stretch to close 2021/22, amid the Gunners’ pursuit of a long overdue top-4 finish.
In turn, it came as a major surprise when, upon Arteta’s latest matchday squad being unveiled a short time ago, a pair of key options were nowhere to be seen.
The players in question? Kieran Tierney and Nicolas Pepe:
📋 Team news from Selhurst Park…
🧤 Ramsdale returns!
💪 Cedric x Tavares both start
🚀 Laca leads the line#CRYARS— Arsenal (@Arsenal) April 4, 2022
An explanation, however, has since been provided for the absence of both the Scot, and Ivorian.
As per a further post across Arsenal’s social media platforms, Tierney has picked up a knee injury, whilst wide-man Pepe is suffering with an unspecified illness:
🚨 Kieran Tierney (knee) and Nico Pepe (illness) miss out on today’s matchday squad.
Back stronger, lads 👊
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) April 4, 2022
*Update* – Mikel Arteta has since provided an insight into the extent of Tierney’s knee problem.
Speaking to the media ahead in his pre-match media duties at Selhurst Park, the Arsenal boss confirmed that a scan has revealed ‘damage’, with the defender’s situation ‘not looking good’ ahead of an appointment with a specialist on Tuesday.
Mikel Arteta on Kieran Tierney’s injury:
“He felt something in training, had a scan and there’s damage. He’s seeing a specialist on Tuesday but it isn’t looking good.”
— now.arsenal (@now_arsenaI) April 4, 2022
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