Arsenal manager, Unai Emery, will be without defender Hector Bellerin, due to a season-ending anterior cruciate ligament injury, when they host Manchester United in the FA Cup fourth round on Friday. Bellerin’s unfortunate injury means either Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Carl Jenkinson or Stephan Lichtsteiner will come in at the right side of defence. Maitland-Niles is expected to start. The 21-year-old has appeared in Arsenal’s last 10 games and he appears to be preferred over Lichtsteiner, who didn’t even make the squad that faced Chelsea last weekend. Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Laurent Koscielny formed a formidable partnership against the Blues and it would be a surprise to see either of them drop out of the team on Friday. Shkodran Mustafi will likely have to settle for a spot on the bench again.
Similarly, Sead Kolasinac will probably keep his place on the left, even though Nacho Monreal is back from injury. Bernd Leno will probably drop out of the team, as he is usually only utilised in the league games, with Petr Cech set to start. Henrikh Mkhitaryan won’t also feature against his former club, as he continues his recovery from a fractured metatarsal.
Unai Emery has revealed that Alexis Sanchez was a target for Paris Saint Germain last season and warned his Arsenal players that the 30-year-old remains a threat even if he’s not been on top form this season. Disaffected at the Emirates, the Chile international quit the Emirates for Old Trafford just over a year ago – a deal that saw Henrikh Mkhitaryan move south – but has struggled to make much of an impact. While injuries have hampered the piano playing, dog-lover – he’s only scored four goals for United – Emery maintains that the once coveted attacker continues to have his respect. Speaking ahead of Friday’s FA Cup fourth round clash, the Spaniard said, “He is a very good player and, when I was at PSG, we thought he could help us,” the Spaniard told his pre-game press conference.
“We spoke about a lot of players, about a lot of important players, and one was the possibility of Alexis. But it was not possible.” “I respect him,” Emery added. “In my preparations, every player is (prepared in) playing against the best players from Manchester United and one is Alexis Sanchez. “I don’t know why his performances or quality is better or worse in these circumstances. Now, in the last matches, they are playing very, very well with very big performances. “He’s been starting on the bench after an injury, but, if he plays Friday, we need to work to stop him because he is a very good player.”
It’ll likely be an ‘interesting’ evening for Alexis. On the one hand, he was a definite fan favourite during his three years as a Gunner and there will be portions of the crowd tempted to give him a clap should he make an appearance. On the other, there’s absolutely no doubt he’ll be booed to shit. And why not, it’s this kind of nonsense that some of us live for.

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