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Kieran Tierney's Arsenal absence explained as former Celtic star suffers blow

The left back has been left out by Freddie Ljungberg but it isn't down to his quality.

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Arsenal fans have been baffled at Kieran Tierney's absence from the starting XI under Freddie Ljungberg.

The former Celtic star made an 18 minute appearance from the bench in the 2-1 defeat to Brighton last Thursday.

He's likely to be on the bench again on Monday night for the clash with West Ham but some Arsenal fans feared that Ljungberg just didn't fancy him ahead of Sead Kolasinic.

However, it's being reported that it is actually down to a slight injury that Tierney has been left out.

The left back hasn't had his issues to seek in recent seasons and missed a large part of the start of the season with his hip problem.

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The latest isn't anything to do with his past injuries though and that is good news in a sense.

According to The Athletic, the delay in bringing Tierney in as first choice left back has been down to a shoulder problem as well as his hip injury.

Tierney has made just 10 appearances since his £25m summer switch from Celtic Park but has completed 90 minutes in just five of them.

His last start came in the Europa League defeat to Frankfurt, a game which proved to be Unai Emery's last in charge.