It was suggested that Eberechi Eze would miss at least a fortnight with injury, but The Athletic now report that he will be out for at least a month and could be sidelined for up to six weeks.
Early on Tuesday, John Cross reported for the Mirror that there was a clear expectation that Eberechi Eze would be out for at least two weeks. At that point, Cross was saying that, thanks to the international break, he may not miss any Arsenal matches.
Eze had already pulled out of England’s games against Uruguay and Japan.
The midfielder will now undergo further scans on the calf problem later this week, but it is already clear that the injury is worse than first thought, particularly with Eze telling the media he was ‘fine’ after the game against Bayer Leverkusen. The Athletic report that “current expectations are that he will miss between four and six weeks.”
Arsenal haven’t put a timeline on things beyond the first two weeks, as they will need the results of these later scans to make decisions.
Arsenal return to action with an FA Cup match against Southampton on April 4th, but that will be followed by the Champions League quarter-final first leg and a must-win Premier League game at home to Bournemouth.
If Eze’s fitness is still uncertain ahead of the FA Cup match, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Mikel Arteta rotating and using backups for that game, to avoid taking risks ahead of the remainder of a tricky April.
Even after the Champions League quarter-final, Arsenal have to play Manchester City away and Newcastle United at home, two more big games. There’s little point risking an injured player for a lower-league cup clash and then losing them for that run.
Eze has scored nine goals and assisted six in his first 41 games for Arsenal, and he scored the best of the lot against Bayer Leverkusen to put the Gunners into the Champions League quarter-finals.
Unfortunately, that result was ultimately marred by the injury that kept Eze out of the League Cup final. All Arsenal fans can do now is hope that the scans later in the week bring good news.