Mikel Arteta says £30m Arsenal star will now be out ‘for a few more weeks’

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Arsenal got off relatively lucky last season when it came to serious injuries to a number of key players, yet the same can’t be said for this year.

Martin Odegaard is expected to be out for some time after picking up an ankle injury on international duty, whilst summer signing Mikel Merino was injured in one of his very first training sessions with Arsenal shortly after joining.

With a League Cup fixture against Bolton Wanderers coming up this week, Mikel Arteta will be gifted the opportunity to rotate his squad and to give a number of key players the rest needed ahead of Saturday’s Premier League tie against Leicester City.

Yet Arsenal will again be without one star player for the midweek clash and for the foreseeable future.

Arsenal defender Oleksandr Zinchenko set for extended period out injured

Speaking to the press ahead of tomorrow night’s tie against Bolton, Arteta confirmed that Oleksandr Zinchenko is still unavailable through injury, with the Arsenal manager saying when asked about the Ukrainian international: “I think he will be out for a few more weeks, unfortunately.”

Praised by Gary Neville earlier this season as ‘fantastic’, Zinchenko looked sharp in pre-season for Arsenal and started at left-back for the Gunners in their opening game of the campaign against Wolves.

Yet a calf injury has limited Zinchenko to just two league appearances all season, with the £30m signing from Manchester City seeing his opportunity to make a real claim in the Arsenal starting XI snuffed out before it even began.

Indeed, Zinchenko’s injury has come at the worst possible time for the defender, and this update could see the Ukraine international fall even further down the pecking order with Jurrien Timber and Riccardo Calafiori impressing for Arsenal.

Zinchenko will feel like he’s missing out on a huge opportunity

Zinchenko’s form in pre-season suggested that the former City star had regained his form from his first year at Arsenal that once made the versatile fullback a revelation in north London.

Yet with the defender now out for some time, Zinchenko will feel like he’s missing out on a huge opportunity to make a huge claim for himself in the Arsenal starting XI.

The Gunners’ have never had as much depth as they do now under Arteta, and Zinchenko being unavailable could see the former City man drop further and further down the pecking order in the weeks to come.