Arsenal boss confirms fresh Zinchenko injury blow

Arsenal continued their excellent form with a thrilling 3-2 victory over Liverpool at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday but boss Mikel Arteta has confirmed a fresh injury blow.

Oleksandr Zinchenko enjoyed a terrific start to life in north London following his summer move from Manchester City and looked to have nailed down the left-back spot ahead of Kieran Tierney.

However, the Ukrainian international’s campaign has been hampered by injury issues of late and was forced to miss Arsenal’s win over Fulham, Aston Villa and Brentford due to knee and calf problems.

Zinchenko was expected to return to action for the visit of Liverpool to the Emirates on Sunday, however, he wasn’t named in the Arsenal squad which was announced an hour before kick-off.

Arteta has confirmed that Zinchenko missed the game after suffering another ‘muscle injury’ in training and the club will now need to assess the defender to see how serious this latest issue is.

Muscle injury

When asked about Zinchenko’s absence, Arteta is quoted by the Mirror as saying:

“He had again another muscle injury and we’ll see how it is in the next few days.”

The news will come as a big blow to Arsenal as they face a hectic schedule over the next few weeks before football breaks up ahead of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar next month.

We’ll have to wait for further news on the seriousness of the injury but Zinchenko is now almost certainly going to miss Arsenal’s Europa League trip to Bodo Glimt on Thursday night. He’ll also be a big doubt for the game against Leeds United at Elland Road next Sunday.

Arsenal are already without Emile Smith Rowe until after the World Cup due to a groin injury that required surgery while Mohamed Elneny is also nursing a thigh injury, so Arteta will pray Zinchenko’s latest issue isn’t serious.

The good news for Arsenal is they have two very capable deputies. Arteta made the surprise decision to start Takehiro Tomiyasu ahead of Tierney at left-back against Liverpool but the Japanese international was outstanding up against Mohamed Salah and showed he’s more than capable of filling-in on the left side of defence if needed.