Takehiro Tomiyasu faces four to six weeks on the sidelines with his latest calf injury, football.london understands. The Japan international came off in the closing stages of Arsenal's 2-1 win over Wolves.
Speaking after that game Mikel Arteta was optimistic that this was just precautionary. «He felt something. I don’t know if it was fatigue,» the Spaniard said in his post-match press conference. We decided to change straight away and we didn’t want to take any risks. Let’s assess him and see how he is."
Since then though Tomiyasu has been for a scan which revealed he has suffered a more serious calf problem than initially hoped. Speaking after Arsenal's dramatic 4-3 win over Luton Arteta admitted that he was likely to be out for an extended period.
«We had a scan and it’s not good news,» Arteta said. «He’s got an injury in his calf and he’s going to be out for a while I think.»
football.london can now reveal that he is unlikely to return for the Gunners in 2023, although there is some hope that he could be back before then if his rehab progresses positively. It is the latest in a long line of injuries for Tomiyasu whose time at Arsenal has been marred by spells on the sidelines.
«I'm sick of being injured,» the 25-year-old wrote on his Instagram page. «But I believe this is the opportunity to be much stronger.»
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Tomiyasu's injury and means that Arsenal's only fit senior defensive options are Ben White, Oleksandr Zinchenko, William Saliba, Gabriel, Jakub Kiwior and Cedric Soares. The latter of these has played just 66 minutes all season, while
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