Arsenal could be facing life without Mathieu Debuchy for up to three months.
The full-back, who dislocated his shoulder when he was shoved into the advertising hoardings by Stoke’s Marko Arnautovic at the weekend, has been seeing specialists this week and while the original estimate had been that he could miss around six weeks, the Guardian report that the club now fear he could be out for twice as long.
It is not only a hammer-blow to the team but also to the player himself who only just returned from another three-month lay-off after damaging ankle ligaments.
Arsenal do, at least at present, have options to cover for the right-back.
Calum Chambers has looked infinitely more comfortable at full-back than he has when used as a centreback alongside Per Mertesacker when Laurent Koscielny was injured while Hector Bellerin seems to making great strides and offers not only a defensive solution but great pace going forward.
More information on Debuchy is expected at Arsene Wenger’s pre-Manchester City press conference.
UPDATE
Wenger told Arsenal.com
Mathieu had a surgery on his right shoulder following the injury on Sunday. It’s very unfortunate for Mathieu, it’s unbelievable because he’s had two surgeries in the same season. He just came back, he played seven games and he’s out again. I count three months out for Mathieu because contact will be a problem for the shoulder.