Arsenal Injury Woes Continue As Wenger Confirms Midfielder Blow

Arsenal’s injury problems show no sign of relenting after Arsene Wenger confirmed that Mikel Arteta suffered a hamstring injury during last nights shambloic 3-3 draw with Anderlecht.

Arteta was forced off in the 63rd minute, just seconds after the visitors had pulled a goal back to make it 3-1, and he appeared to be holding his left hamstring as he limped off the field.

Speaking after the game, boss Arsene Wenger confirmed to Arsenal.com  that the Spaniard has ‘done his hamstring’ but it’s too soon to predict how long he’ll be out for.

Arsenal went on to concede two further goals to somehow blow a three-goal lead and draw 3-3, and Wenger believes the loss of Arteta played a key role in our demise.

He told the clubs website:

“He has done a hamstring. I don’t know what is wrong or how long he will be out for.”

“I think when we lost Mikel Arteta we lost out because he was one of the few who defended well. That didn’t help. Apart from that maybe we underestimated subconsciously Anderlecht and got punished. In the Champions League you need to be at the mental level or you get punished and certainly we were not.”

It’s difficult to know what would have happened had Arteta stayed on the pitch at 3-1 but there’s no doubt we missed his calm head in the middle of the park after he was forced off.

The former Everton man certainly isn’t the defensive midfielder this Arsenal team is crying out for but he’s the best we’ve got to fill the role and he’ll be a huge miss if he’s ruled out for any period of time.

Arteta is almost certain to miss this Sunday’s trip to Wales to face Swansea City but he’ll then have two weeks to recover before we entertain Manchester United after the international break, so fingers crossed the hamstring injury isn’t too serious and he’ll be fit to face the former champions later this month.