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Fresh Arsenal blow: Boss offers update on ‘serious’ injury, 6 could miss Watford trip

By on October 9, 2017

shkodran mustafi arsenal

Arsenal’s injury woes deepened last night after Shkodran Mustafi picked up a serious hamstring injury ahead of our trip to Watford this weekend.

Mustafi lined-up for Germany during their 5-1 World Cup qualifying win over Azerbaijan in Kaiserslautern but was forced off before half-time after suffering a hamstring problem.

The Arsenal defender was running alongside Ramil Sheydaev when he pulled-up clutching his leg in the 34th minute and was immediately replaced by Matthias Ginter.

Germany coach Joachim Low offered an update after the game and confirmed that Mustafi looks to have sustained a serious muscle tear which will keep him out for ‘a long time’.

The Independent quoted Low as saying:

“I think Mustafi has a muscle tear. It looks a bit more serious. A hamstring injury to a muscle tear, we have to wait for the exact diagnosis, but he’ll probably be out for a long time.”

Shkodran is now expected to return to north London to undergo further tests with the Arsenal medical team but it looks like he’s facing an extended period on the sidelines.

If a muscle tear is confirmed then Mustafi will be out for months and even a simple hamstring strain would keep him out for 2-3 weeks so he’s not going to be available any time soon.

It’s a huge blow as Mustafi has been getting back to his best in recent games and his injury means Arsene Wenger could be without six first team squad players for our trip to Watford on Saturday evening.

Our defence could be decimated if Laurent Koscielny fails to recover from an Achilles injury as Calum Chambers is also out with a thigh problem.

Mesut Ozil hasn’t featured in recent weeks due to an apparent knee injury while Danny Welbeck is still nursing a groin injury and obviously Santi Cazorla is still out so our squad could be stretched this weekend.

If Koscielny and Mustafi are both ruled out, then Rob Holding and Per Mertesacker are expected to line-up alongside Nacho Monreal at Vicarage Road on Saturday.