Early Arsenal team news emerges before Southampton FA Cup clash | OneFootball

Arsenal have many injury issues ahead of their FA Cup quarter-final at Southampton.

Arsenal are hoping for a positive end to what could be a memorable season for the club, with Mikel Arteta’s side still in the mix to win the treble.

Their League Cup final defeat to Man City ended any hopes of a quadruple, but the Gunners are in the quarter-final of the FA Cup and Champions League, whilst they boast a nine-point lead at the top of the Premier League.

Arteta is not going to let the players get ahead of themselves, and he will only be focused on one game at a time, but it’s clear that someone special could happen for the Londoners over the next few months.

Now, though, attention turns to Southampton, with Arsenal heading to the south coast on Saturday night as they look to book a place at Wembley in the FA Cup semi-final.

Arsenal injury news ahead of trip to in-form Southampton

The talk over the international break involving Arsenal has centred on injury news, as 11 players pulled out of representing their countries over the past few weeks.

Naturally, that brought scepticism from some, but it appears Arsenal will be without several key men for the trip to Southampton, as Arteta gave a mixed update when speaking to the club’s media.

Firstly, on Noni Madueke, who has avoided a serious issue, even if he is unlikely to be involved against the Championship side: “No, it’s not. It looked really bad, and Noni was really worried, especially after what happened to him in his other knee a few weeks ago, and he was out for six weeks. But no, he’s nowhere near that injury, so that was really good news.”

Elsewhere, he stated that Eberechi Eze and Piero Hincapie are absent.

“Ebz is out; with Ebz I cannot put a finger on it because I don’t know, because he’s a special character. Yes, it was (a serious injury for Hincapie).”

Southampton will fancy their chances of causing a major FA Cup upset

Obviously, Arsenal have a brilliant squad, so even with the injuries, Arteta is going to send out an XI that is packed with quality, so they will start as firm favourites.

However, if there is heavy rotation, and a few unfamiliar faces in the XI, it will give Saints that extra belief that they can cause a major upset.

Tonda Eckert’s men are unbeaten in 14, which includes beating Fulham away from home in the previous round, so they go into the game in high spirits.

The January signings of Daniel Peretz and Cyle Larin have made a massive impact, and there is a settled look to the team in the way they play, and each individual knows what the manager wants.

Yet, it will be intriguing to see if Eckert makes changes. The priority is winning promotion, and a massive game at play-off rivals Wrexham is looming on Tuesday, so the German may have that in mind when he selects his side.

So, there is uncertainty over what each XI will look like tonight, but whoever does play for Southampton will see this as a great opportunity to test themselves against the real elite.