Arsenal's Sead Kolasinac out of Red Star Belgrade game but could return for trip to Man City

Image: Sead Kolasinac celebrates his second-half equaliser against Swansea at the Emirates Stadium

Arsenal defender Sead Kolasinac has been ruled out of Thursday's Europa League clash with Red Star Belgrade.

But the Bosnian defender may be available for selection again when Arsenal visit Manchester City in a crucial Premier League fixture on Sunday.

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The 24-year-old has been in good form of late but he picked up a hip injury during the win over Swansea last weekend.

Gunners boss Arsene Wenger told the media on Wednesday: "Kolasinac, today he was much better.

"He will have a test at the end of the week. He is not ruled out yet for Sunday.

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"It's not as bad as we feared or as it could have been."

Shkodran Mustafi (hamstring), Santi Cazorla (Achilles), Danny Welbeck and David Ospina (both groin) will also play no part on Thursday night.

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And Wenger is likely to continue with his policy of squad rotation, which means the likes of Jack Wilshere, Theo Walcott and Olivier Giroud are once again expected to be in the line-up, while players such as Mesut Ozil, Alexandre Lacazette and Alexis Sanchez wait for the showdown with Premier League leaders City.

Asked about his squad rotation across competitions, Wenger said: "Both of the teams do well.

"Even in training, when we play them against each other, it's very tight. I've gone into a rotation policy and I want to stick to that at the moment.

Image: Arsenal have won all three of their Europa League matches this season

"I must say that I am pleased with the quality of our performances in every single competition.

"It's very difficult to make a change. They all want competition, they all deserve competition, because of their quality.

"If you look at the number of minutes played by all of these players since the start of the season, many of them are in very competitive shape and that should be an advantage for the rest of the season."

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