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Mikel Arteta has given an injury update with the Arsenal boss confirming another blow ahead of the busy Christmas period.
Arsenal have suffered a new injury blow with winger Leandro Trossard sidelined. It comes ahead of what could be a crucial few weeks in both the Premier League and Champions League.
The Gunners are back in action on Wednesday night when they take on Club Brugge away from home in the Champions League. The game gives them a perfect chance to bounce back from the disappointment of the late defeat against Aston Villa last weekend.
They will, however, have to do so without three key players. Ahead of the game, there were injury doubts over midfielder Declan Rice and defender William Saliba.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference, Mikel Arteta confirmed that both would miss the game. But in another blow, he also revealed that Trossard will also be sidelined.
When asked if any of the three would be available vs Club Brugge, Arteta said: “No, so Declan was ill so he was quite sick after the game already, and he hasn’t travelled with us.
"William is still not available and Leo again, he picked another knock in an area where he had the previous issue and I don't expect that it's going to be long but unfortunately, he cannot be with us.”
After missing the previous two games with an ankle injury, Trossard was back in the squad against Villa. He came on at half-time and made an immediate impact by drawing Arsenal level.
He was, however, taken off the pitch with four minutes left to play.
Trossard’s goal was his fifth goal involvement in his last four Premier League games. After getting an assist in the 2-0 win over Burnley at the start of last month, he was on the scoresheet in the draw against Sunderland and the 4-1 win over Tottenham.
Losing an in-form player will therefore be a big blow for Arsenal and Arteta ahead of what is a busy Christmas period.
With the January transfer window coming up, one way the club could reduce the blow of any absences is to dip into the market. But it seems that is not what’s on Arteta’s mind.
“At the moment we're just focusing on bringing the players back, and hopefully it will be a matter of weeks,” he said.
“And we know how important those weeks are going to be because we're going to come into the period where a lot of things start to get defined in that period, and hopefully we're going to have those players back.”
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