Arsenal’s captain Mikel Arteta who succumbed to yet another injury in Saturday’s North London derby has confirmed that he is working hard to return to fitness as soon as possible.
He suffered a calf injury before the half hour mark in Saturday’s match at the Emirates. He revealed as much in his official twitter account thus:
“Thank you very much for all your messages. I already started working to come back ASAP!”
The 32 year old would be spending at least the next three weeks on the sidelines. And he is expected to miss the next two matches against Galatasaray and Chelsea before the international break.
It is the second time this season that Mikel Arteta would be sitting out a number of Arsenal’s matches as a result of injury. He twisted his ankle in the match against Besiktas in a Champions League playoffs game in Istanbul. It kept him out for the matches against Everton, the second leg against Besiktas and Leicester City. He only returned as a substitute in the match against Manchester City a couple of weeks ago.
He joins Aaron Ramsey as an injury casualty from the same match against Tottenham Hotspur. Arsenal also lost the Welsh midfielder to a hamstring injury in the derby. Arsene Wenger said after the match thus:
“I don’t know how long they will be out but they will be out next week; I think Ramsey is a hamstring injury, and Arteta is a calf. . .”
The injury to key players has disrupted Arsenal’s rhythm in the new season which has prevented Arsene Wenger’s team to build a head steam so far this campaign.
Mikel Arteta would have missed three league matches out of the seven played so far at the end of this week.
And despite returning to the starting lineup in the match against Borussia Dortmund, he looked short of fitness in Germany, and only looked sharp against Aston Villa when Aaron Ramsey played closer to him in that match.
However, it did not take long before his latest breakdown last weekend.
The former Everton stalwart has not gone a season with injury since he joined on transfer deadline day in 2011. He has sat out at least four weeks with a calf strain every season.
It further shows that the age of Arsenal’s captain is finally taking its toll as his influence in games as gradually wane as a result of his declining pace.
With the injuries stacking up, it severally limits the options for Arsene Wenger in terms of picking a starting eleven in the coming matches without further injuries.
