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Unai Emery provides positive update on Dani Ceballos injury ahead of Leicester clash
The Spaniard appeared to tweak his hamstring in the Gunners’ Europa League clash with Vitoria.
Unai Emery believes Dani Ceballos didn’t suffer a serious injury in Arsenal’s Europa League trip to Vitoria Guimaraes.
The Spain international appeared to injure his hamstring in the second half of the Gunners’ 1-1 draw at the Estadio D. Afonso Henriques.
Ceballos was replaced by France Under-21 international Matteo Guendouzi, whose introduction to the match had very little bearing on the final result.
The 23-year-old’s injury has made him a major doubt for the north Londoners’ trip to the Midlands on Saturday evening to play third-placed Leicester.
I think it’s a small injury
Emery confirmed the Real Madrid loanee felt a twinge in his hamstring but is optimistic he won’t be on the sidelines for too long.
When asked to provide an update on Ceballos’ injury, the Spaniard said: “Yes [he injured his hamstring.]
"We are going to wait for the analysis tomorrow but at the beginning I think it’s a small injury.”
Arsenal’s draw with the Portuguese minnows saw them miss out on automatic qualification for the knockout stages of the Europa League.
A late goal from Shkodran Mustafi appeared to have sealed all three points for Emery’s troops, who were pegged back by a 91st-minute equaliser from Bruno Duarte.
The draw has heaped more pressure on the under-fire Emery, who admits his players need to tighten up at the back.
“Our objective this evening was to have a clean sheet,” said the former PSG and Sevilla boss. “We need to improve defensively and be strong in that moment.
“We are using each match to achieve that. We didn’t achieve that against Vitoria Guimaraes. In that competition we’re taking good results, taking a lot of goals and not conceding a lot of goals.”