After three straight losses, Mikel Arteta will be grateful that Arsenal will have a significant respite from Premier League action. The Gunners suffered defeats at the hands of West Ham and Fulham before 2024, starting with their FA Cup elimination this past weekend at the hands of Liverpool.
Arsenal, like many of their Premier League rivals, has suffered greatly from injuries, with several players also competing in this month’s Asia Cup and Africa Cup of Nations. Though it appeared that Thomas Partey would be one of them, Arsenal and Ghana decided that he would stay in North London.
In the meanwhile, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Mohamed Elneny will play for Egypt and Japan in the upcoming weeks, despite recent concerns about injuries. Arteta was aware of those eventual absences, but it was clear that Oleksandr Zinchenko and Gabriel Jesus’s lack of action was not anticipated.
“He experienced some knee pain,” Arteta said following the Liverpool loss, which Jesus missed due to a problem he had during practice. “A scan that we conducted reveals something. I hope it’s not a major issue. We were unable to take any chances because it’s the same knee that he previously suffered an injury to.”
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