Laurent Koscielny is in line to play in Sunday’s north London derby against Tottenham Hotspur but Arsène Wenger, the Arsenal manager, will make a late decision over the defender’s fitness.
Koscielny was left out of Wednesday night’s 5-1 Champions League defeat at Bayern Munich as a precaution, having travelled to Germany only to feel a twinge in his hip at the team hotel. The centre-half was named on the bench but he did not take part in the pre-match warm-up and he appeared to be a substitute in name only.
Koscielny is ready to play in the derby, assuming he does not suffer any further trouble although Arsenal would ideally then like to keep him back from France duty during the international break. Koscielny has been included in Didier Deschamps’ squad for the friendlies against Germany and England.
Tomas Rosicky has had a boost in his long-running battle to regain fitness after knee surgery in early August, with his specialist clearing him to resume running work next week. Rosicky was in Munich on Thursday morning for the appointment and he hopes to be back in action in January.
Wenger has a host of players out through injury but Mikel Arteta (ankle) and David Ospina (shoulder) are back in full training and they are expected to return to the squad against Tottenham.
Wenger has already indicated that Héctor Bellerín will not be available because of a groin problem but the manager hopes the right-back will be back immediately after the international break, together with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Aaron Ramsey. The other absentees are Jack Wilshere, Danny Welbeck and Theo Walcott.
