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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
Simon Collings

Arsenal triple injury boost as Bukayo Saka, Emile Smith Rowe and Granit Xhaka train ahead of Slavia Prague tie

Arsenal have been handed a boost ahead of their Europa League quarter-final against Slavia Prague on Thursday as fitness doubts Bukayo Saka, Emile Smith Rowe and Granit Xhaka all trained on Tuesday.

The trio missed Saturday’s defeat to Liverpool, with Xhaka absent due to illness and Smith Rowe and Saka nursing hip and hamstring issues respectively.

In their absence, Arsenal lost 3-0 to Liverpool and manager Mikel Arteta will be keen to welcome them back for the first leg of Thursday’s Europa League quarter-final with Slavia Prague at Emirates Stadium.

The Gunners are training again late on Wednesday afternoon and a final decision on who can be involved, and for how long, will be made then.

Arsenal will definitely be without David Luiz for the tie, with the defender undergoing surgery at the weekend to solve a knee issue.

The Brazilian will begin his rehabilitation in the coming days and he is expected to be out for a few weeks.

Left-back Kieran Tierney is also expected to miss Thursday’s match after injuring his knee against Liverpool on Saturday.

Arsenal’s medical team have been examining the Scot since then and their initial fears are that he will miss a few weeks.

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