Arsenal were without a natural right-back for their match against Burnley on Sunday, opting to play Ben White in the role due to Takehiro Tomiyasu’s absence.
The Japan international has since been withdrawn from the upcoming fixtures for his country, which had raised doubts as to how long he could be out for, but manager Arteta insists that he expects him to be out for a matter of weeks.
“Well, Tomiyasu had an injury and we didn’t have anybody to play in that position against Liverpool,” Arteta told Arsenal Media after the Burnley clash. “He really wanted to push, he tried and he played the 90 minutes, and he felt it again. So he will be out for a couple of weeks.
The Gunners are believed to be headed to Dubai for a training camp, which led to the question as to whether he would be travelling with the squad for that, but Mikel insisted that he just needs to focus on his recovery.
“Right now he needs to recover, his only focus has to be to have the best possible treatment. To look after himself, and try to be available for us as quickly as he can. He will be out for a few weeks.”
The 23 year-old has been amongst our most consistent performers this term, and it is a relief to hear that he is not expected to be ruled out for long, and we could well consider ourselves lucky considering that we now have a couple of weeks without action in which he can recover.
Could Japan question our decision to stop him from travelling for their upcoming fixtures?
Patrick
Arsenal 0-0 Burnley Arteta Post Match Press Conference – “We didn’t have the quality”