Unai Emery reveals Angel di Maria and Javier Pastore doubts for Arsenal game

Paris Saint-Germain manager Unai Emery has revealed that Angel di Maria's substitution in the French club's 2-0 win over Nantes was more a precaution and that the Argentine could feature against Arsenal at the Emirates in midweek. However, he was not too confident about the injury to Javier Pastore and the Argentine will have a series of tests before being deemed fit for the fixture.

Both Arsenal and PSG meet each other in the fifth group game of the Champions League, having drawn 1-1 in the reverse fixture in France in September. The winner of this game, courtesy of the head to head formula adopted by Uefa, will go top of the group and remain there, irrespective of what happens in the final game of the season.

Both Di Maria and Pastore had travelled to Argentina for the international break and were slotted straight back into the first team, leading to an injury setback for the manager ahead of an important game against the Gunners. Emery will also miss Adrien Rabiot for the game, who suffered a hamstring injury in France's friendly against Ivory Coast during the international break,

When asked about Di Maria, Emery said, as quoted by ESPN: "There is a rest day tomorrow. He will be given time to recover but I think he will be in London for the match on Wednesday." On Pastore, he added: "We know he will have to do some exams with the doctor, some analysis."

"For the moment, we are doing some things well but we need to improve," Emery continued. "Arsenal? This evening, we were fully concentrated on Nantes. Now we will prepare to face Arsenal. We want to do a good job in London."

The Gunners have injury problems of their own, with Hector Bellerin missing the game due to an ankle injury, while Santi Cazorla is also set to miss the game because of an Achilles tendon problem. Alexis Sanchez is also a major doubt for the game after picking up an injury during international duty with Chile, despite playing against Manchester United.