EPL: Four key players to miss Arsenal vs Chelsea Emirates showdown

Arsenal and Chelsea could be without several key players when both London rivals meet in the Premier League at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday.

Arsenal have suffered fresh injury concerns ahead of the clash, with Bruno Guimaraes and Cristhian Mosquera reportedly absent from Thursday’s training session.

The absence of both players was noticed during Arsenal’s open training session. Guimaraes has struggled with a minor groin problem, while Mosquera recently picked up an injury during the victory over Aston Villa.

Guimaraes previously managed to feature in Arsenal’s FA Community Shield victory over Manchester City despite his injury concerns. He missed the opening league game but returned from the bench against Aston Villa, playing the final 20 minutes.

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta had earlier provided an update on Guimaraes’ condition, saying: “We expect that not to be weeks at all. Let’s see how he evolves this week.

“He didn’t even want to stop. He wanted to carry on. Now we start to understand the character of the player, but I don’t expect that to be a big issue.”

It remains unclear whether Guimaraes is dealing with the same problem again or was simply left out of training as part of his recovery.

Mosquera, meanwhile, has become the latest Arsenal defender to suffer an injury. The youngster was forced off during the win over Aston Villa, with Ezri Konsa replacing him.

Arsenal are already without William Saliba, while Jurrien Timber has only recently returned to light training. The Dutch defender is still not considered fit enough to make the matchday squad against Chelsea.

Chelsea also have injury concerns of their own. Moises Caicedo and Marco Palestra are both unlikely to feature in the Emirates clash after missing training ahead of the match.

Caicedo returned as a substitute against Brighton but lasted only 11 minutes before suffering another injury. Alonso has described the problem as a minor knee issue, which had also kept the midfielder out of Chelsea’s wins over Fulham and Luton Town.

Palestra, who joined Chelsea from Atalanta this summer, has not played since pre-season and is yet to make the matchday squad this season. Alonso has not disclosed the nature of his injury.

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With both teams dealing with several fitness problems, Arsenal and Chelsea could be forced to make important changes for what promises to be a highly competitive Premier League clash.