Arsenal’s Matteo Guendouzi to miss Liverpool clash

Matteo Guendouzi will miss Arsenal’s match against Liverpool this weekend after being sent off against Balckpool in the Carabao Cup. Guendouzi has become an influential figure in midfield since joining in the summer and Arsenal will lack him. The Football Association confirmed in August that yellow cards will no longer be carried across competitions and are now specific to each tournament. For example, a yellow card in the Carabao Cup will not count towards a player’s tally in the Premier League. But, crucially, the FA confirmed that red cards remain unaffected, which means Guendouzi will miss the match against Arsenal. Granit Xhaka has been used as a left-back of late to cover a shortage of options in the position. He may now be needed in the middle of the park. In his post-match press conference Unai Emery suggested that the Frenchman shouldn’t change his game. "He's playing well," said the Arsenal head coach. "He is playing with one thing very important - with a spirit, competitive. "The action it's an action that he would play in a normal moment in a game, he is pushing behind the player. The second yellow card, I don't know if it's experience. "He is playing with the spirit I want today and in every match. We spoke in the dressing room at half time that it was very important to keep control but I don't think he lost control with his action. I think the red card is one circumstance on the game. "That is the football. When you are playing and you are on the pitch you can have things positive and things negative like one injury, like one red card, like a 90 minutes with hard work and then don't let you play other matches. "Red cards, like injuries are like that. It's football." Emery also made it clear that Guendouzi had been part of his game plan to face Liverpool. "We have a lot of players, they are looking where to play to help us and take these responsibilities," he said. "But show his performance, his quality for the team, and I am going to prepare with other players and thinking so we can have performance for a big match on Saturday."

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