Unai Emery expects Arsenal to be without Hector Bellerin for ‘some weeks’ after the right-back was forced off at half time of the 3-2 defeat to Southampton.
The Spaniard appeared to pick up a calf problem, which, with the games coming thick and fast at this time of year, is particularly untimely.
Speaking after his side’s first defeat since August, Emery gave an update on Bellerin revealing, “Bellerin has a small injury – he is going to be some weeks off I think.
“Sokratis is coming back and we will see how Mustafi and Kolasinac are, and it is good news Koscielny can be with us for the next matches. It is not a good result but it was important for us [to have them back].”
A two-week layoff could see Bellerin miss five games including Wednesday’s north London derby in the Carabao Cup, home games with Burnley and Fulham and trips to Brighton and Liverpool.
Bad news. Our one fit first team defender today who had played many matches.
Hope he isn’t out too long. Good luck Hector.
Well said..
I’m afraid I don’t regard Hector as a defender any more as he doesn’t do it well and allows people in behind or space for crosses. His own crosses are too often not good enough either.
I think we need to get two good wide players in January (plus a centre half).
That conclusion had me scratching my head. You want two wide players and a center half as a solution to a ‘bad’ right back?
Really bad luck. We’re really struggling with injuries at the moment. Arsenal fans need to calm down and understand that.
no thanks. i wanna get fucking angry now! fucking shite! Fucking Soton at fucking St Marys! 22 unbeaten! And what?! Danny fucking Ings?! Fucking kidding me.
I share your sentiments KongoKim but you should chill a bit. Luck has been on our side but between injuries and other circumstances we were bound for a result like this. As I always like to say, it’s not how many times you fall, it’s how many times you get up and fight back. We’ll be fine.
I think you need to re-tune your sarcasm detector…..
Sad reminder that our problems over the last 2-3 seasons aren’t just down to coaching or quality of players. We’ve had terrible luck with injuries at bad moments. FFS
Ffs
Is Lichtsteiner injured too?
The footballing gods are definitely not Arsenal fans. Even if we do bring in a defender in January, he’ll probably pick up an injury signing the contract…
Get AMN in there. Lichsteiner has shown he’s not horrible, but doesn’t offer too much. Big upside with AMN, even if he’s no where near as experienced. Unfortunate news, let’s hope the manager and squad can learn from performance. We’ll get some starts back next week??
I would play amn in a back 5, but SL in a 4.
Yeah, I’m not too disappointed in this.
Not because I don’t rate Bellerin, far from it (he’s been one of our best players this season so far), but more because I really believe in AMN and feel he can make a very viable RB back up.
I would much rather see Jenkinson at RB and AMN play CM instead of Guendouzi. I worry people never appreciate the fact that is not his position, simply because he is quick and has a broad skill-set.
Right back wasn’t Bellerin’s position either.
That’s how it works. This isn’t the Wenger era, where everyone can get into the squad with dreams of playing in the middle. He has all the attributes to be a world class RB, so he can either choose to develop down that path, or try and fight for CM along with the likes of Xhaka, Guendouzi and Torreira (who’s only 2 years older).
Damn!
Would like to see Ainsley get a run there instead of Lichtsteiner.
Oh wow. How are we going to ever compete if we lose our entire defence/midfield/attack (take your pick) by Christmas. We have utterly appalling luck year on year and it makes it impossible to succeed when margins are so tight. All of the other teams above us seem to play the same team week in week out, and if they lose players it’s one or two who come back after 3 days. We tend to lose 1 or 2 for an entire season (2 already this year) and then get decimated in one particular area as people drop like flies.… Read more »
I don’t think we’ve quite got our injury prevention right. We’ve definitely improve but definitely match to match niggles need to be focused on
Some of these injuries are also the consequence of emery’s demands on the players to work harder…yes our running stats are up from last year and I believe they show that we are the hardest running team in the league, but it comes at a cost. We can’t have it all and simultaneously be the hardest working team, dominating possession (which invites tackles and dirty tactics, AND suffer fewer injuries than most other teams. Although I agree that we do seem to have bad luck with timing and distribution of injuries across different positions. Ps: I’m obviously not talking about… Read more »
Jenko…time to dust off those boots mate! Didn’t think it would come to this!
lmao
Damn, totally forgot about him. Yes, he’s got a chance to prove himself. Hopefully, he takes it.
Funny that, he’s still around, so someone knew … Hope he takes his chance!! I’ve always loved his attitude and even if a good run just enhances his chances for a good sale, more power to us! COYG!
Kolasinac also injured. Bellerin knocked. Maybe Mustafi still carrying a hamstring. No Holding. Lichsteiner also potentially out.