Jurrien Timber’s feelings clear after Arsenal injury blow and Mikel Arteta update

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The full-back was forced to sit out the game against Brighton through injury with Mikel Arteta delivering the latest on Jurrien Timber's fitness following Arsenal's 2-1 win

Arsenal were handed an injury blow ahead of their Premier League match against Brighton and Hove Albion on Saturday.

Full-back Jurrien Timber was left out of the squad due to an injury issue he suffered in the latter stages of the Carabao Cup win over Crystal Palace just a few days before. The absence left Declan Rice having to fill in at full-back.

Amid the injury blow, Timber himself has been active on social media both before and after the match. On Saturday morning, he shared bible verse Romans 12:2, on his X account.

The verse refers to not conforming and renewing your mind.

During the game, cameras spotted Timber in attendance at the Emirates Stadium. Then, after full-time, the defender shared Arsenal’s final score graphic on his own account, making clear he was delighted with the win his team-mates managed to collect.

Timber’s absence from the game means that he has now lost his record of being ever-present so far this season. Ahead of the match, Mikel Arteta revealed that he picked up the issue against Palace.

“We missed him because in the last part of the game he felt something and he could not carry on so he's out,” he said.

He gave a further update following the 2-1 win, saying: “With Jurrien, he landed awkwardly.”

Arsenal were given a further injury blow in the warm-up to the game with Riccardo Calafiori leaving the warm-up early. He was replaced in the starting XI by Myles Lewis-Skelly.

Speaking in his post-match press conference, Arteta revealed: “It's something that he felt yesterday, something very awkward that happened, and today in the warm-up he wasn’t comfortable.”

Despite the injury blows, a goal from Martin Odegaard and a Georginio Rutter own goal saw Arsenal take all three points and regain their place at the top of the table. Although Brighton halved the deficit through Diego Gomez to set up a tense finish.

How long both Timber and Calafiori will be out for is still to be seen. It’s a pretty quick turnaround for the Gunners, who are back in action at the Emirates Stadium in what could be a crucial game against third-placed Aston Villa on Tuesday night (8.15pm kick-off).

Villa are currently on 39 points, five points behind Arsenal in the table. They recorded their 11th win in a row with a 2-1 victory over Chelsea on Saturday evening.