Takehiro Tomiyasu missed out on Arsenal’s match against West Ham United with a minor injury, according to Mikel Arteta.

Mikel Arteta had some bad news for Arsenal fans ahead of Sunday’s game against West Ham United, revealing that Oleksandr Zinchenko was “not fit”, Emile Smith Rowe had “turned his ankle”, and Jorginho hadn’t trained as he’d “been carrying an issue”.

On Gabriel Jesus, Arteta didn’t give a specific update, saying only that the striker was not available.

But there was no update at all on Takehiro Tomiyasu’s absence until after the game, at which point Arteta confirmed it was another minor injury.

“He had a niggle when he came back from the national team,” Arteta admitted. “It was not the moment to risk him after how many minutes he’s played.”

Tomiyasu hasn’t been able to play a significant role for Arsenal over the last couple of months, with his AFC Asian Cup absence preceded by a calf injury.

Tomiyasu had initially been expected to come straight back into the Arsenal squad following his return from the Asian Cup.

But further assessments evidently revealed that playing the defender against West Ham would have been a fitness risk.

With any luck, Tomiyasu won’t be out for long, with Arsenal set to travel to Turf Moor to face Burnley on Saturday before playing their Champions League last-16 first-leg match away to FC Porto on Wednesday, February 21st.

In other news, Fabrizio Romano recently reported that Tomiyasu will officially sign his new contract at Arsenal soon, with the agreement done and “100% sealed”.

Only the formalities remain before the announcement, and Romano says Tomiyasu is ready to sign his new deal.

Romano previously claimed that Tomiyasu had attracted interest from clubs in Italy and elsewhere in recent months, but he was never likely to leave.

Arsenal always wanted him to stay, and a new deal is now incoming.

Arsenal’s current injuries

Emile Smith Rowe turned his ankle in training and was out of the squad for the game against West Ham. It is not clear when he will be back with ankle sprains taking anything from 2-3 weeks to recover from and 3-6 months.

Jorginho is currently carrying a foot injury but it was not serious enough to keep him off the bench for Arsenal’s 6-0 win over West Ham on Sunday.

Gabriel Jesus has another knee injury which was not expected to rule him out for long but the club are being quiet on an actual timeframe.

Oleksandr Zinchenko came off at half-time against Liverpool and was not in the squad for Arsenal’s game at the London Stadium and it is not clear when the club expect him back.

Fabio Vieira was due to return to training in mid-January from his groin surgery but has suffered a set-back. The last report, from his home country, suggested he would be back in mid-February.

Thomas Partey has been out since October and suffers a setback each time he gets close to returning.

Jurrien Timber has been included in Arsenal’s Champions League squad despite still recovering from the ACL injury he picked up on the opening day of the season. He could be back before the end of the season but that seems both risky and unlikely.