Arsenal loanee Oleksandr Zinchenko won’t be involved with Ukraine over the international break due to a groin injury, which has already kept him out of two Nottingham Forest matches.
Arsenal loan defender Oleksandr Zinchenko sat out of Nottingham Forest’s defeats to Midtjylland and Newcastle United last week with a groin injury, with manager Ange Postecoglou suggesting the problem was nothing too serious.
“He pulled up a bit sore,” Postecoglou revealed last week. “He did well to finish the [Sunderland] game, to be honest.
“He’s probably played more football in this last three weeks than he has played for quite a while (at Arsenal), it is not surprising that, you know, he felt a bit sore.
“But it’s nothing significant. It’ll put him out [against Midtylland] and probably the weekend with us knowing that the international window is straight afterwards.”
Yet any hopes that Zinchenko might be involved over the October international break have since been dashed, with Ukraine announcing their squad without the 28-year-old in it.
It’s been many years since the last time Zinchenko wasn’t involved with Ukraine when fit, and all his recent absences from the national team have been injury related. This is seemingly no exception.
Zinchenko will now have the chance to return to action for Nottingham Forest at home to Chelsea, which would be an ideal time for Postecoglou to get his first win at his new club.
Elsewhere, fellow Arsenal loanee Reiss Nelson was branded “available” by Brentford for their game against Manchester City at the weekend, having returned to training after illness.
But the winger wasn’t then picked for the squad, so he clearly has some work to do to break into the starting lineup.