Arsenal manager Unai Emery has suggested that the club could possibly have the services of Shkodran Mustafi for the upcoming Premier League game at Liverpool.
The Gunners have sorely missed the services of the German over the past few weeks with a hamstring issue.
This has left the manager short of central defensive options given that Nacho Monreal is back on the sidelines while Rob Holding has been ruled out for the season with a serious knee injury.
Speaking ahead of the Reds game, Emery acknowledged that the 2014 World Cup winner is close to returning to first-team training with the team and he has a decision to make before the Gunners make the Merseyside trip to face the runaway Premier League leaders.
“Mustafi may also be close to training with us, but today he worked alone but with good feeling. Tomorrow is the last training before we travel to Liverpool,” he was quoted by Arsenal.com.
Arsenal have no doubt improved on their showing from the previous campaign and there has still been a vulnerability at the back which has contributed to just three clean sheets through the top-flight season.
At Anfield, the Gunners will no doubt start as the underdogs with the Reds coming off the back of eight-straight league wins and Emery certainly has a selection headache on his hands, should Mustafi not been deemed fit for the encounter.
Preferably, Sokratis should partner club-captain Laurent Koscielny in a potential three-man backline which may include either Stephan Lichtsteiner or Granit Xhaka but the Frenchman’s performances have come under the radar of late with him not being entirely match fit after a long-term Achilles problem.
Arsenal are currently two points behind cross-town rivals Chelsea in the pursuit of the fourth position and anything less than a win on Saturday could put them further adrift in the pursuit of Champions League qualification which ultimately remains the aim for the campaign.
