Arsenal confirm availability of 24-year-old star ahead of Nottingham Forest clash

Arsenal have confirmed that defender Rob Holding is available for selection during Tuesday’s League Cup third round tie against Nottingham Forest at the Emirates Stadium.

The 24-year-old has not featured for the Gunners first-team since the serious knee injury picked up during the 2-2 draw against Manchester United 10 months ago, but he seems on the verge of making his comeback.

Ahead of the Forest clash, the Gunners have provided a fitness update on the team where they have confirmed that Holding is ‘available for selection‘ after stepping up his fitness with the development squad earlier this month.

The Carabao Cup game has been surprisingly scheduled just 48 hours after the Premier League encounter against Aston Villa and that has primarily to do with the fact that Forest have a Championship game on Friday night.

Regardless of this, manager Unai Emery will have considered making multiple changes to the starting XI for the Cup tie and Holding could be handed with his maiden start to the campaign.

Elsewhere, Calum Chambers, Shkodran Mustafi, Damian Martinez should be among the potential starters alongside Mesut Ozil, who has played no role for the Gunners since the 2-2 draw at Watford earlier this month.

Arsenal don’t have any long-term injury setbacks to deal with at the moment, but as many as four players are expected to miss the Forest game due to fitness issues while Ainsley-Maitland-Niles is suspended.

Dinos Mavropanos, Kieran Tierney and Hector Bellerin may have to wait a little longer to get into first-team action after recently returning to regular training after their respective injury setbacks.

Alexandre Lacazette likewise won’t feature until the beginning of October after being instructed to rehabilitate from a minor ankle injury sustained during pre-season.