Press conference

Emery on Mavropanos, Koscielny and Sokratis

Our Emirates FA Cup defeat to Manchester United was damaging in more ways than one as both Sokratis and Laurent Koscielny sustained injuries.

Both are expected to miss Tuesday's clash with Cardiff City, so could this be an opportunity to Dinos Mavropanos to stake his claim?

"[Koscielny and Sokratis] are not OK for tomorrow," Unai Emery told the media on Monday. "But it is good news for example for Laurent Koscielny because he didn't break his jaw.

"Sokratis doesn't have a big injury but he isn't OK [to face Cardiff], I don't know how long but I think maybe two or three weeks.

"Mavropanos has been working with us for the past month and has playing with the under-23s. He is in the squad with the possibility to play.

"Our challenge every day, every match, is to take a better balance in the attacking and defensive moments. We are scoring a lot, that’s a good statistic, but we are receiving a lot more [goals against] than we want. 

"Every match we are working, between us, we need a clean sheet and we need also this balance to be better. But the first idea in our mind is to win."