Viktor Gyokeres will not be available to Arsenal for their UEFA Champions League match at Slavia Prague on Tuesday, and Mikel Arteta says that may not be the end of it.
“He’s definitely not available,” he confirmed. “He hasn’t trained today, and we need to do some more tests and scans in the next few days to understand the extent of the injury, but for this game he’s not available.”
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The Gunners’ forward had found his way into good form, scoring a brace against Atletico Madrid on Oct. 21 and bagging his fourth Premier League goal of the season on Saturday at Burnley before leaving at halftime with an injury.
Here’s what else Arteta said about the big Swede.
Arteta is hopeful that Gyokeres won’t miss a long time but acknowledged the forward as not one to miss playing time for minor reasons.
Gyokeres has been remarkably durable in his career, missing just one game in each of the previous two seasons at Sporting Lisbon and playing 51 of 52 league games for Coventry City the two years prior to that.
“I am concerned because he hasn’t had many muscular issues and he had to leave the pitch.” Arteta said. “He was feeling something and that’s obviously never a good sign. Especially for a player that is very, very explosive, so we are digging in a little bit more to understand where we are in terms of the injury and we will announce it when we know more.”
“If he’s got something he’s going to have to deal with, we will help him to do that. He was in a really good moment, in really good form, he’s very important for the team. But for tomorrow, we don’t have him, so that’s it.”
Arsenal are still without Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz, so Mikel Merino or Leandro Trossard could see time at center forward or in a ‘false nine’ role.