Emery’s injury crisis deepens: Arsenal confirm fresh blow, key man out for a month

Unai Emery is facing a mounting injury crisis after Arsenal confirmed Sokratis is facing a month out with an ankle injury that he suffered against Man Utd. 

The Greek international limped off midway through the first half during our 3-1 FA Cup defeat to United at the Emirates Stadium on Friday night after falling awkwardly on his ankle.

Emery told reporters after the game that he didn’t think the issue was anything too serious but wouldn’t put a time-frame on his recovery until further tests had been conducted.

However, the results are in and unfortunately the injury is far worse than first thought as Arsenal have confirmed Sokratis has been ruled out until the end of February.

There is slightly better news regarding Laurent Koscielny as the club have also revealed that he hasn’t suffered a broken jaw after taking a kick to the face against United on Friday.

The Frenchman was forced off in the second half after being caught on the face by Romelu Lukaku and it’s been confirmed he has only suffered bruising – although the club haven’t put a timescale on his recovery.

In other team news, Henrikh Mkhitaryan is back in full training after recovering from a foot injury but Hector Bellerin, Rob Holding and Danny Welbeck are all out for the season with long-term injuries.

on Arsenal.com:

Laurent Koscielny
Bruising and soft tissue swelling to face and jaw. Being reviewed on a daily basis.

Sokratis
Left ankle. Expected to return to full training by the end of February.

Hector Bellerin
Left knee. Being fully assessed prior to surgery.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan
Right foot. Being integrated back into full training.

Rob Holding
Left knee. Recovering after surgery.

Danny Welbeck
Right ankle. Recovering after surgery.

To lose Sokratis for a month is a huge blow as he’ll miss around seven games including Premier League matches with Cardiff, Man City, Huddersfield, Southampton and Bournemouth while he’ll be facing a race against time to take on Tottenham at the start of March.

We better pray Koscielny makes a quick recovery as we have limited options at centre-back and Emery may have to get creative if the Frenchman is ruled out over the coming games.