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Arsenal sweat on Sokratis Papastathopoulos recovery after knee injury in Everton win

Injury doubt | Sokratis: REUTERS
Injury doubt | Sokratis: REUTERS

Arsenal are awaiting news on a knee injury to Sokratis Papastathopoulos ahead of a hectic run of games in the Premier League and cup competitions.

Sokratis limped off in the first half of the Gunners’ 2-0 win over Everton to be replaced by Rob Holding and will be assessed on Monday.

“We don’t know now but the first analysis is that the doctors will wait until tomorrow,” Gunners head coach Unai Emery said. “It’s his knee but I’m hoping it’s not too serious.”

Sokratis was believed to have been relaxed over the injury after being withdrawn in the 39th minute but a lengthy absence for the Greek centre-back, who had played the entirety of every Arsenal game previously this season, could hand Emery a major selection headache.

Club captain Laurent Koscielny is sidelined until December at the earliest as he recovers from the Achilles tear he suffered in May. Were Sokratis unavailable Emery would have only Shkodran Mustafi and youthful duo Rob Holding and Konstantinos Mavropanos to call on ahead of a run of games that begins against Brentford in the EFL Cup on Tuesday night.

Before the international break the Gunners will also face Watford and Fulham in the Premier League either side of an 8,000 mile round trip to Baku, where they face Qarabag in the Europa League.