On a largely positive Saturday for Arsenal, the one major concern following the win over Bournemouth was the fitness of Leandro Trossard.
With Gabriel Jesus and Eddie Nketiah absent through injury, Arsenal had to turn to Leandro Trossard to start against Bournemouth on Saturday.
The January signing had been in good form in the previous couple of games, but he was forced off the pitch after just 22 minutes against Bournemouth.
The forward had picked up an injury chasing down a counter-attack from the away side, and Mikel Arteta gave a rather worrying update after the game.
“It is a worry,” Arteta said. “He came to me straight away and told me he could not continue because he’d felt something when he was tracking back after the corner. We have to assess him and see how he is.”
It looks as though Trossard is now likely to miss Arsenal’s upcoming games against Sporting CP and Fulham, putting the pressure on Arteta to find an alternative.
The return of Jesus or Nketiah would be very welcome, but the manager insists there are other options.
“We have alternatives – Emile can play in that position as well, we can move players and Reiss can give us width and threat in wider areas,” Arteta pointed out.
“We’ll have to assess every opponent because they’ll be different. Now we have Sporting CP, a really tough match, so let’s hope we’ll have one or two back.”
The good news is that the next international break now isn’t too far away. Arsenal have four games to get through before then, two in the Europa League and two in the Premier League.
If Gabriel Martinelli and Emile Smith Rowe can get the Gunners through until one of the other three strikers returns, Arsenal may then be able to welcome more of their centre-forward options back after the break.
First things first, Arsenal will be assessing their immediate options for Thursday’s trip to Lisbon.