Emery plays down defensive crisis following Gunners win

Arsenal manager Unai Emery has played down the idea of a defensive crisis at the club following Saturday’s 1-0 against Huddersfield.

Despite the result, the Gunners lost both Sokratis and Shkodran Mustafi for next weekend’s game against Southampton due to suspension after the duo both picked up their fifth yellow cards of the season against the Terriers, ruling them out for the next Premier League game.

This means that Emery will have only one centre-back to call his services upon in the form of club captain Laurent Koscielny, who is only just returning to first-team football following a length spell out with an Achilles heel injury.

“We have the players”

Speaking to the press after the game, Emery said: “Koscielny might be ready for the Southampton, but we have players. We showed in Manchester we have the players to cover this position. As well as Koscielny coming back we will also have Nacho Monreal.”

The Gunners will also have Stephan Lichtsteiner at their disposal to play at centre-back should Koscielny not be ready yet to feature next weekend against the Saints.

Arsenal up to third after Torreira winner

It wasn’t the prettiest of games, but Arsenal managed to claim the three points and maintain their unbeaten run in all competitions thanks to a late goal from summer signing sensation Lucas Torreira.

The Uruguayan midfielder bicycle-kicked in the winning goal with seven minutes to go after the Gunners dominated the majority of the second-half. Huddersfield were forced into taking off captain Tommy Smith after the defender suffered a leg injury following a tackle from Hector Bellerin.

Mustafi was also forced to come off for the Gunners with a hamstring injury, but Emery confirmed that the German would only be out for at least a week and will only miss Thursday night’s Europa League fixture against Qarabag FK.

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