Charles Watts has claimed that Arsenal defender Oleksandr Zinchenko will miss Thursday night’s clash against Bodo/Glimt.
The defender joined from Manchester City in the summer and has made an immediate impact for our first-team squad, but has been struggling to stay fit.
Kieran Tierney and Zinchenko were expected to share the Left-back spot this term, but with both having failed to prove their fitness, Takehiro Tomiyasu was given the nod to start against Liverpool at the weekend, and he was thoroughly impressive in stifling Mo Salah.
With Watts ruling Zinchenko out of our upcoming Europa League tie in Norway, Arteta may have a decision on his hands on his selection.
“I can’t imagine Zinchenko’s going to play,” Charles told his YouTube followers.
“We know he’s struggling with injury, he wasn’t in the squad, he’s got a muscle problem.
“There’s no way they’re going to take him over on Thursday night and play him against Bodo, so it’s going to have to [be] someone else at left-back.”
I assume that Tierney will get the nod, with him in need of minutes as he builds back to something close to full fitness after missing a number of months out injured, but the manager could well opt to take a closer look at Tomiyasu playing down the left after an impressive performance on Sunday.
Could Tomi be set to compete for the first-choice role on the left when all our options are back to 100%?
Patrick
More likely that Tomi will be featuring at CB if Gabriel continues to make basic errors which have resulted in the loss of 5 goals in our 9 league matches.Tomi is a natural CB where he plays for Japan, and with White playing consistently well at RB , Arteta may be reluctant to move him .As he proved against Liverpool, Tomi is a top class defensive player, blessed with, two good feet and pace.Add to that his prowess in the air, and you have a class act.What an excellent but he has been.
Excellent ” buy ” I meant.
Zinchenko has officially become a member of the injury-prone squad, it seems. A whopping 35M down the drain. Can we get a refund?
RFrancies don’t be to reactivate this is his first season for Christ sake at least wait till January before dishing out such conclusions
This is the first season for Jesus too, but he’s been a revelation. We are still waiting for Zinchenko!
He is good and I like the way he played before injury