Kieran Tierney has a knee injury on top of his lower leg problem, according to Mikel Arteta, to be further assessed in the coming days.

When Arsenal posted their latest injury update on Thursday, they seemed pretty positive on Kieran Tierney. They wrote that he was ‘recovering well’ from a lower leg strain, and aiming to integrate back into training next week.

Speaking just a day later in his pre-Leeds press conference, however, Mikel Arteta revealed it’s not just Tierney’s lower leg they’re worrying about. The player also a knee injury and they’ll have to assess the problem carefully.

“We have to see how the knee reacts when he starts to get a bit more load,” Arteta said. “He hasn’t done much yet but he is very positive at the moment, he is in good spirits and he is desperate to get back in the team.

“We will see in the next few days, the moment he starts to train with the team how that knee is feeling and how he reacts.”

There’s no chance Tierney will feature against Leeds on Sunday, meaning we’re set for another match of Cedric Soares playing at left-back.

It’s typical of Arsenal to have a player picking up a series of injuries in a position where they have no real alternative.

With Sead Kolasinac going out on loan in the January transfer window, Arteta is looking to right-back Cedric, right-winger Bukayo Saka and central midfielder Granit Xhaka to fill in. That’s less than ideal with a crucial run of fixtures coming up.

We can only hope the knee reacts well and Tierney is back involved in time for the Benfica tie.