Takehiro Tomiyasu was left out as Arsenal defeated Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday, having picked up an injury against Bayern Munich.

Takehiro Tomiyasu wasn’t involved in Arsenal’s squad to face Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday, with Jakub Kiwior starting the match and Oleksandr Zinchenko on the bench.

Arsenal confirmed that the defender had been left out of the game as a precaution, after picking up a knock against Bayern Munich on Wednesday.

Tomiyasu had played 86 minutes against Bayern, but he then came off for Eddie Nketiah. At the time, it looked like a tactical change with Arsenal chasing a goal, but there was evidently more to it.

Explaining the decision to leave Tomiyasu out, Mikel Arteta said: “He had a knock in the (Bayern) game and he had a bit of swelling and he wasn’t fit to play this game.”

Football.London report that Tomiyasu could return against Chelsea, and if his absence against Wolves really was just precautionary, you’d assume that would be on the cards.

A bit of swelling wouldn’t be enough to keep a player out for more than a few days, the only worry will be that a new problem is revealed when the inflammation goes down.

Though he started against Bayern on Wednesday, Tomiyasu hasn’t started a Premier League game since he faced Wolves at home on December 2nd, 2023.

Given Arsenal face Chelsea, Spurs, and Manchester United in their next four games, and Tomiyasu is arguably the squad’s strongest defensive left-back, Mikel Arteta will want him available for the upcoming run.