With another sad and often confusing international break almost wrapped, it looks likely that Arsenal will visit Old Trafford without a few star players.
Despite initial reports that Hector Bellerin’s ankle injury wasn’t all that worrying, the Spaniard is now expected to be out for three to four weeks, certainly ruling him out of the Manchester United game and likely taking him out of the running for several other important fixtures we can worry about when the time comes.
He joins Santi Cazorla in the injury room, whose return from an unspecified ankle injury remains unknown.
And because it wouldn’t be an international break without a few shortsighted decisions, Chile have announced their intentions to play Alexis Sanchez against Uruguay tomorrow—despite a low-grade hamstring tear. That sense of impending doom you feel is probably the memory of another hamstring injury last November, which sidelined the forward for two months.