Leandro Trossard may have aggravated an injury.placeholder image
Leandro Trossard may have aggravated an injury. | Getty Images
Leandro Trossard returned from injury for Arsenal against Aston Villa but was unable to complete the match.
Arsenal saw their Premier League title hopes suffer a setback at Aston Villa on Saturday afternoon with the hosts picking up a 2-1 victory over the Gunners.
The Villains found a winner through Emi Buendia in the 95th minute to crush Arsenal, who are now just two points clear at the top of the table. Mikel Arteta’s side had the opportunity to open the gap between themselves and Manchester City to eight points with a win over Aston Villa prior to the 3 pm fixtures.
Aston Villa opened the scoring through Matty Cash after 36 minutes and it took Arsenal until the 52nd minute to find a reply. That came through Belgium international Leandro Trossard, who was brought onto the pitch to replace Eberechi Eze at half-time.
Leandro Trossard sees Arsenal return cut short
Trossard had missed out against Chelsea and Brentford in his side’s last two outings due to an ankle injury but was passed fit enough to be on the bench against Aston Villa. Worryingly, despite only coming on at the break, Trossard was unable to complete the match.
Mikel Arteta chose to take the 31-year-old off for Gabriel Martinelli. Speaking after the match, the Arsenal boss said: “He was really good. We knew he is another player coming back from injury and he started to feel it again so we had to take him off.”
That is worrying news for Arsenal supporters, who may worry that Trossard aggravated his previous injury at Villa Park. The winger has six goals across all competitions for the Gunners this season, including three Premier League goals and an assist in his last three top flight outings.
Mikel Arteta reacts to Aston Villa defeat
Arsenal are back in action come midweek with a Champions League visit to Club Brugge. Wolves then visit the Emirates Stadium in a late Saturday kick-off next weekend before a trip to Everton on December 20.
When asked if Arsenal’s loaded fixture schedule may have had an impact on the result at Aston Villa, after the match Arteta said: “I don't know. At some point I thought we were going to win it and then there were moments that we gave very strange giveaways that had nothing to do with us.
“But it's football as well, but the boys are willing to put absolutely everything in, they tried. The situation with Leo is the same - he could only play a certain amount of minutes. We made the decision to do it [the sub] earlier and we had to do it after, that was the reason we had to change it and learn from it and go again.”
In other news, Mikel Arteta names 'immense' Arsenal player after Brentford win as injury blow confirmed.
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