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Arsenal will make a late decision on the fitness of Bruno Guimaraes for their trip to Aston Villa on Monday night.
Confidence should be high for the Gunners after they backed up their dominant Community Shield win over Manchester City with a comprehensive victory against newly-promoted Coventry to start the new Premier League season.
£75million summer signing Guimaraes miss that match against Frank Lampard’s Championship winners due to a groin issue, having come off a week earlier in Cardiff with an ice pack strapped to his thigh.
The midfielder has not been seen training with the main group in recent days but Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has not yet ruled him out of the clash at Villa Park.
"We just managed the last few days with him [Guimaraes],” Arteta said at his pre-match press conference on Thursday.
"He's out on the pitch, he’s been in training sessions. But we need to manage the load to get to Monday in the best possible condition to be available to be selected. He's potentially available.”
If Guimaraes is ruled out, Arteta could be tempted to stick with an unchanged starting lineup against a Villa side who were thrashed 4-0 at Brighton on opening weekend.
Myles Lewis-Skelly continues to impress in midfield, while Kai Havertz has looked sharp leading the line and combining with the likes of Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka.
Ezri Konsa is expected to make the squad and is in contention for a debut against his former club, but Arteta could opt to give the defender minutes off the bench rather than starting him.
Gabriel Martinelli is set to complete his move to Al-Hilal over the weekend, while Gabriel Jesus and Fabio Vieira are unlikely to be in the squad as Arsenal continue to try and find buyers for the duo before Tuesday’s transfer deadline.
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