Arsenal attacker Henrikh Mkhitaryan has been ruled out for atleast six weeks after the Armenian fractures his metatarsal in the right foot. He picked up the injury in the 2-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday.
The Armenian looked to have picked up his pace in recent weeks, after starting off the season slowly. However, he will be forced to sit down on the sidelines atleast until February which has given even more headache to the Spaniard who desperately wants to finish in the top four.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan out until February as Arsenal star suffers broken foot https://t.co/t0jzTs2paD pic.twitter.com/IwH5mTC5oh
— Mirror Football (@MirrorFootball) December 24, 2018
Already Rob Holding’s lingering injury forcing him to sit out for the rest of the season, Unai Emery has been dealt with another blow following the injury of Mkhitaryan.
In addition to Mkhitaryan, the England International Danny Welbeck could have played his last game for Arsenal against Sporting CP in a 0-0 draw at the Emirates last month. These two have proved to be a great back up for the Gunners, and their absence will come back to haunt on certain occasions when the English outfit are need of legs in the attacking part of the game.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan has started 14 games across all competition for the Gunners, scoring 4 and assisting another three. It has been an interesting season for Arsenal as they find themselves outside of the top four spot despite going 14 games unbeaten in the Premier League alone.
2 – Henrikh Mkhitaryan has scored his first Premier League brace, and his first in the top five European leagues since August 2015 (for Borussia Dortmund vs Borussia Mönchengladbach). Double. pic.twitter.com/ddgD21NrV5
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) December 16, 2018
Their record came to a standstill in back-to-back defeats against Southampton and Tottenham Hotspur within a span of four days. However, the Spaniard has never let anything slip up as they sit on points parity with Chelsea.
There are various injury concerns for Unai Emery. Nacho Monreal might miss out on a trip to Brighton on boxing day with a tight hamstring. Shkodran Mustafi also pulled his hamstring but is expected to return to full training this week. Right-back Hector Bellerin is expected to return to full training in two weeks following his left calf injury which has already kept him out for a week.
Arsenal must be struggling to name an 18 member squad as their couple of young players have also been sidelined. Emile Smith Rowe damaged his right hip and is expected to be back before the end of the month. Dinos Mavropanos is another defender who is struggling from fitness and he is expected to miss the festive fixtures as well.
Mkhitaryan injury obviously limits Arsenal numbers-wise but means there’s now even fewer options who offer true width. His and Bellerin’s partnership down the right was one of the early-season highlights. Interesting to see where they prioritise strengthening in January.
— Tom Marshall-Bailey (@TomMarshall_B) December 24, 2018
Arsenal will take on Brighton and Hove Albion on the boxing day as they prepare to tussle out for a Champions League place.
