Arsenal’s captain has suffered an injury set-back and looks likely to be missing for some time yet.
Mikel Arteta has been sidelined with a calf problem that has kept him out since 26th November when he picked up the injury in the Champions League against Borussia Dortmund.
It had been expected that he would return at the start of January and then that was pushed back until the end of the month and now it seems like he could be absent for a little bit longer that that.
David Hynter in the Guardian is reporting that the player, who is suffering from the same injury for the third time this season and said of the player
The 32-year-old is known as a tremendous professional who looks after himself well and it has only made the setbacks and the length of the layoff harder to take.
Arteta has been sorely missed by Arsenal despite the criticism he gets from many of the fans.
His ball-retention skills, ability to find a pass and to break up play is often under-rated. His understudy, Mathieu Flamini has certainly not got the same level of ability but with Francis Coquelin starting to shine hopefully Arteta’s absence won’t be missed too much.
UPDATE
Arteta has now been ruled out for three months. More on that here.