Mikel Merino has owned up to being the player who injured Martin Zubimendi during last week’s post-match warm-down, but he insists his fellow midfielder is alright now.
Martin Zubimendi suffered a training injury during the post-match warm-down following the game against Leeds United last weekend, and he was forced to miss the midweek Champions League clash against Lille OSC as a result.
Mikel Merino has since owned up to his role in the injury setback, though he insists it isn’t anything serious.
“He [Zubimendi] is fine, he had his ankle a little bit hurt due to an action with me and if there is anyone that doesn’t want to hurt him, it’s me,” Merino said.
“It was a freak accident in training but he’s fine, he is a bull and recovers quickly.”
Mikel Arteta gave positive news to the media on Zubimendi during his press conference ahead of Sunday’s game against Nottingham Forest, suggesting the player is in contention to make his comeback this weekend.
“Zubi looks much better, he already looked much better today (on Friday),” Arteta said. “We have another session tomorrow (Saturday), and after that we will assess whether he’s available to play against Forest.”
Piero Hincapie also picked up an injury in the same training session, and he’s expected to be out for a bit longer. Merino hasn’t taken responsibility for that one, and we may never know what happened.
Though they play completely different positions, there is a sense in which Zubimendi and Hincapie’s injury absences are linked.
Without Hincapie to call upon, Arteta only has Riccardo Calafiori as a natural left-back option. As a result, he’s probably going to use Myles Lewis-Skelly in the position, as he did against Lille in midweek.
But if Lewis-Skelly is playing at left-back, Arsenal have fewer options in midfield, at which point Zubimendi’s fitness becomes more important. Again, that was evident in midweek, with not one of Arteta’s midfielders getting the match off.
If Zubimendi makes his predicted speedy return, Arsenal should be better able to manage without Hincapie.
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