Arsenal Dealt Huge Blow As Wenger Confirms Key Man Will Miss At Least 3 Weeks

Arsenal have been dealt a huge injury blow after Arsene Wenger confirmed that Shkodran Mustafi has suffered a bad hamstring injury and will miss at least 3 weeks.

Mustafi once again started in the middle of defence against Stoke City at the Emirates this afternoon but he went down requiring treatment midway through the first half.

The German international was forced off and limped down the tunnel holding his left hamstring after being replaced by Hector Bellerin in the 24th minute.

Speaking to the media after our 3-1 comeback victory, Wenger confirmed to reporters that the injury is a serious one which is expected to keep him out for a minimum of three weeks.

That news will come as a major blow as Mustafi has been excellent since arriving from Valencia in the summer and has formed a solid partnership alongside Laurent Koscielny in the middle of defence.

However, the injury means Mustafi is now set to miss our vital away games at Everton and Manchester City over the next week as well as matches against West Brom and Crystal Palace, while he’ll also be a doubt for the trip to Bournemouth on January 3rd.

If the defender takes even longer to recover then he’ll be in danger of being ruled of our subsequent games against Preston North End in the FA Cup and our trip to Wales to face Swansea in mid-January.

I’m sure Mustafi will be further assessed over the coming days so let’s pray the injury isn’t as bad as first feared and he’s able to make a swift recovery.

Thankfully we were able to recover from the loss of Mustafi today to come from a goal down to beat the Potters 3-1 thanks to goals from Theo Walcott, Mesut Ozil and Alex Iwobi to go top of the Premier League table [watch the goals here].

Wenger on Mustafi: "The minimum is 21 days. That means… he will have a nice Christmas."

— Miguel Delaney (@MiguelDelaney) December 10, 2016