Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta has revealed that Thomas Partey and Gabriel Jesus are set to spend "a few weeks" on the sidelines with muscular and hamstring injuries respectively.
Partey was a last-minute absentee from Tuesday's Champions League win over Sevilla with his muscular concern, which prevented the Ghana international from travelling to Spain.
Meanwhile, Jesus was the star of the show in midweek, producing a wonderful turn and assist for Gabriel Martinelli before adding a second with an arrowed finish into the top corner.
However, the Brazilian's evening ended prematurely, as he dropped to the turf holding his hamstring in the second half and was sent for a scan on Thursday to determine the extent of the damage.
Addressing the media in Friday's pre-game press conference, Arteta confirmed that Jesus's problem is expected to keep him out for a number of weeks, although he did not rule out an earlier return for the ex-Manchester City man, who has already battled back from two knee surgeries since joining the Gunners.
"The scans show that there is a muscle injury. We might miss him for a few weeks again. With Gabi I cannot give you any time frame because he always surprises us," football.london quotes Arteta as saying.
"He felt something there, it was a really awkward action. It's true that he had quite a lot of load in those games playing with the national team and with us which he hasn't done in a long, long time. That's really bad news for us."
Meanwhile, Partey had returned to the first-team picture this month after suffering a groin injury at the beginning of September and turned out for Ghana in the most recent international break, although he was an unused substitute against both Lens and Chelsea either side of a late substitute outing against Manchester City.
Similarly to Jesus, the ex-Atletico Madrid man could also be missing until the end of November or beginning of December, and Arteta revealed that Partey injured himself with his very last kick of the ball in training on Thursday.
"He's got a muscle injury and we expect him to be out for a few weeks. We don't know the extent of it still, he has more tests today. He got that injury in training, with the last kick of the ball. Very unfortunate," Arteta added.
When asked whether playing for Ghana this month could have triggered Partey's latest setback, the Spaniard responded: "I don't think so. He was coming from a period of absence and he needed minutes.
"He played with the national team. We try to be in touch with them always. Then we had two games very close with Chelsea and Seville. We decided not to load him in Chelsea and play him in Seville, and then it happened in training. So, sometimes it's difficult.
"We try to prevent it. If he had got injured against Chelsea or against City you would have said we rushed him. And then we don't and he gets injured. It happens. That's football."
Alongside Jesus and Partey, Arsenal continue to make do without Jurrien Timber, who is on the long road to recovery from his ACL injury and may not play again this season.
The Gunners occupy third place in the Premier League table ahead of Saturday's visit of Sheffield United, which will pit one of two unbeaten teams against one of two sides yet to pick up a single win in the 2023-24 campaign. body check tags ::
