Emile Smith Rowe is facing at least a couple of months on the sidelines after undergoing surgery on the groin injury that has been causing him persistent issues this season.
The decision to go under the knife means the midfielder will not be available for selection for England at the World Cup and will miss at least 13 matches for Arsenal.
Smith Rowe wasn’t able to play in any of the Gunners’ pre-season friendly matches but has featured as a substitute in four Premier League matches.
The last of those was against Manchester United at the start of the month. After that match, he took part in a warm-down but subsequently suffered a “significant setback”.
Arsenal have said the operation to repair a damaged groin tendon took place yesterday and he should return to full training in December.
Best of luck to Emile with his recovery. Clearly, this is a big blow to both player and club.
Hope he comes back stronger. Great player, we’ve missed him (even with how well we’ve been doing) and his/Saka’s chant! Good luck ESR!!!
Yeah even if he hasn’t been a starter for a while his impact off the bench was incredible towards the end of last season. His minutes to goal ratio must have been under 90 for some time.
Wish him all the best and a quick recovery!!!
Big blow – only positive if the world cup means he missed less games than he otherwise would have
Emile smith-blow
Some might call it a big blow, but everyone knows their job, and hopefully this will put an end to the groin issues at our club.
That left flank feels a little light heading into October.. Yikes! Does this mean Fabio might share the burden with martinelli? Or is marquinhos a good shout on the left too?
Feel like October is going to be massive for the two new boys.. Let’s start with a double hattrick on Saturday. COYG!!!!
Gabriel Jesus could play there and Nketiah through the middle. Alternatively I think Nketiah could play there too.
May have to put Eddie on the left to give Gabi a breather
Marquinhos on the left could work.
Or Sak on the left with marquinhos on the right. Or Jesus on the left with Eddie up front. We’ve got some options, but fingers crossed they all stay fit!
Yes I do suppose Jesus and Eddie can both pull shifts on the left.. But man, I won’t lie, if either of the two get banjaxed this month it could be early curtains after such a beautiful start to the season. That’s what I’m nervous about now more than the results!
Jeez.. Martinelli better stay fit or we’re in trouble
I guess Jesus can play out on the left, and Eddie in the centre. But not ideal.
This, also think Vieira can cover that position. Although the way Eddie’s been playing off the bench so far I’d give him the nod and put Jesus on the wing.
I would actually prefer the other way around; Nketiah on the left and Jesus staying at #9. But hopefully it won’t come to that.
rather get it done now, than cause more problems if it snaps in December. speedy recovery Pele.
Speedy recovery, Emile. Come back stronger and ready to light up the place again 👊🏼
Get well soon Emile.
Time to step up Reiss – last chance saloon.
Good shout, I had forgot about him. Handy option for the Europa and Carabao.
I still believe in Reiss!
Me too…he has all it takes to be a top player…I guess he is lacking confidence though
Hopefully Nelson leaves this season am sick and tired of players half assing it like himself.
Tough break Emile.
It would be a nice gift to see him back on the bench for our Boxing Day fixture.
Vieira, Marquinhos, and Nketiah will certainly get plenty of minutes between now and the World Cup break.
I genuinely believe that Smith-Rowe is one of the very best individuals in our squad. I’m so gutted for him and he’ll be sorely missed. If he comes back fitter and more resilient I think he can go on to become a world class player.
Yea I prefer him to martinelli when fully firing. Love martinelli too but he does miss some sitters and seems to lack composure near the goal – still young tho so hopefully grows out of him.
Love them both, but martinelli edges it for me.
Martineli ceiling is much higher I detect a massive lack of desire and fight in ESR
Martinelli puts the fear of god into defenders, Emile is like gravy when he’s on song so hope they can get him back in better shape 🙏
Martinelli is a billion times better then smith rowe his potential is alot higher in addition to that he has much more drive.
How do you know he’s got much more drive? Are you on the coaching staff.
Martinelli is much much better
Not really a surprise, but let’s hope he makes a full recovery as quickly as possible. Another test of squad strength/depth in the medium term!
This isn’t very good at all, we were lightweight for the “front 6” positions before the season started and now we have lost El-Neny and ESR for significant periods.
Marquinhos, your chance to step up!
I hope it sorts him out for good. Would be great to have him up and running for the second half of the season. LANS, really.
On the bright side, this means that Southgate can’t play him as DM, get the living shit kicked out of him and break him for the rest of the season and much of next.
No they’ll do that to Saka instead
Sad . Wishing you a quick recovery, Smith -Rowe. Cheers😍🙏🏾🙏🏾
I remember what it was like being a young man suffering intense discomfort in my groin. Never needed surgery though.
Seriously though, I hope the surgery goes well, the club manage for now and he comes back reborn after the dodgy WC is over.
Gutted for Emile and us.
We should have gotten Mudryk.
Gotten ?????🫣🫣🫣
Only positive thing is that he would be fresh for the second half of the season. Get well soon ESR!
Such a shame the World Cup comes too soon for him. If he continued without surgery though his chances would not be so good anyway given he’d be playing with a problem. He can still be an important player for England come the Euros, the following World Cup and beyond. It also means we get a hungry player back in January. He’ll want to re-establish his place in the side and should have a lot of energy for the second half of the season, all being well. I do expect more minor niggles along the way though.
Keeping positive and thinking it aint a bone/joint issue, just soft tissue and groin area which is surely managable for a young player.
Hopefullly hes back post WC doing what he did for us two seasons ago.
This is really sad but I know he’ll come back stronger. Big ups ESR!
Shame for ESR but hopefully it’ll prevent him picking up all these small knocks. On another note, anyone have a cup of the Horse Placenta RVP was soo fond of, worth a go at this point 👍🐴
We have to be careful with Martinelli. Maybe give Nelson more playing time.
We should sing his name tomorrow
This was not the blow to the groin I was hoping for.