Mikel Arteta fears Gunners star suffered ‘serious’ injury in Sporting Lisbon defeat
Mikel Arteta fears Arsenal star Takehiro Tomiyasu suffered a “serious” injury in the club’s Europa League defeat by Sporting Lisbon.
The Gunners were eliminated in the Europa League round of 16 on Thursday, losing 4-5 on penalties after the tie ended 3-3 on aggregate.
Despite the defeat, Mikel Arteta will likely be content to now fully focus on the Premier League as Arsenal are on course to win their first title in 19 years.
The north London side sit at the top of the league, some five points clear of last season’s champions Manchester City, and have an opportunity to add to their cushion at the top when they welcome Crystal Palace without a manager on Sunday since Hasn’t won a game in 12 years.
However, at the end of the season, Arteta has raised concerns about the fitness of some of his players.
Arteta on injuries
Eight minutes into Arsenal’s second leg against Sporting, Tomiyasu required treatment after an awkward slip. In fact, the Japan international trotted off after a long break and was substituted for Ben White.
Ten minutes after Tomiyasu, Arsenal were forced into another move when Rob Holding replaced William Saliba, who appeared to be struggling with a back problem.
And Arteta specifically expressed concern about Tomiyasu’s injury, admitting it could be “serious.”
The Spaniard said in his post-match press conference: “Tomiyasu looks quite serious for his immediate reaction and what he said to me.
“Obviously it’s very early and hard to know. William, I don’t know. He had some discomfort and couldn’t continue, so we had to undress him.”
Gabriel Jesus, who has just returned from a four-month break, was also substituted at half-time, leading to concern in some quarters that the Brazilian may have suffered a setback in his recovery.
Referring to whether injuries would do lasting damage to the club’s Premier League run, Arteta said: “I don’t know. We’ve had injuries all season.
“We had Emile out four months, Gabriel Jesus four months, Alex two and a half months, Thomas a month and a half, Eddie a month and a half. We’ve had a lot of injuries, but we got over it.
“The disappointment will not go away, the disappointment is there now, but it brings clarity. There are 11 games to play now, 11 Premier League games and we have a final against Crystal Palace.
“We have to get all the energy back there and focus on that and play better than today. Make the same effort as today and win.”
Arteta also insisted that Jesus’ replacement was planned, adding: “We went for it because we had to manage the subs and thank God that we took him out, especially after the two windows we had.” had to use in the first half but that was the plan and it came from an injury.
“We knew the game could go into overtime and we have to get through that and he looked okay.”