Arsenal hit by nightmare new injury blow as star faces long spell out | Football | Sport

Arsenal striker Kai Havertz is expected to be out of action until early to mid-January due to a setback he experienced last month while recovering from minor knee surgery. The forward has been sidelined since sustaining a knee injury against Manchester United in Arsenal’s first Premier League match of the season on August 17.

Havertz underwent knee surgery a week later. The Daily Mail claim that in November, the 26-year-old was just a week away from rejoining the matchday squad when he encountered a setback in his final training sessions. Although the German now expects to be ready for matchday squad selection by mid-next month, he hasn’t resumed training since his complication.

It is now believed that Havertz might make an appearance in the Arsenal squad for their league match against Liverpool on January 8, though it’s more likely he will return for the FA Cup third-round tie against Portsmouth three days later.

Havertz has had a year marred by injuries, having pulled his hamstring during the North London club’s warm-weather training camp in February last season. When asked about Havertz’s injury earlier this month, Arteta said: “Matter of weeks. Let’s see how it evolves in the next few weeks. He’s doing really well, he’s doing stuff on the pitch, but I think he needs some time.”

This development will worry Arsenal’s manager, as Viktor Gyokeres has endured a challenging beginning to his Emirates career. The striker has managed just six goals this campaign after his £63.5million summer move to North London.

Arteta has recently called on detractors to ‘leave him alone’ – while accepting the forward must find the back of the net more consistently. He commented: “There was a lot of excitement because we were bringing a proven scorer that had probably the best stats in Europe.

“He is a player that comes to a different league, the most demanding league in the world, and what happens if he doesn’t score for five or six games?

“That was my only question to him: ‘How are you going to react if you don’t score in five or six games? Can you cope with that? And then what’s going to happen in the next 100 games?’

“And that’s what you have to see. The sample is very small.

“So, leave him alone, let him do what he does best, be behind him and I’m sure things will turn out in the right way.”