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Arsenal confirm huge injury blow after issuing update ahead of Man Utd clash

By on January 22, 2019

hector-bellerin-arsenal-2018

Arsenal have issued a team news update ahead of Friday’s FA Cup clash with Manchester United and confirmed Hector Bellerin will miss the rest of the season with a cruciate knee ligament injury.

Bellerin was stretchered off during the second half of our 2-0 victory over Chelsea on Saturday evening and Unai Emery admitted after the game he feared the full-back was set for a lengthy spell on the sidelines.

Close-up footage of the incident appeared to show the moment Bellerin’s ligament snapped as he turned to challenge for the ball but fans were still clinging to a glimmer of hope that the injury wasn’t as bad as feared.

However, after conducting scans, Arsenal have now confirmed on Arsenal.com that Bellerin has ruptured his anterior cruciate knee ligament and is facing between six to nine months on the sidelines.

Obviously this is devastating news as Bellerin is a crucial player for Arsenal and we have nobody capable of filling his boots at right-back/wing-back during the second half of the season.

The Spaniard joins Rob Holding and Danny Welbeck in being ruled out for the rest of the season with the pair recovering from a knee ligament injury and a broken ankle respectively. We’ve certainly had our fair share of bad luck with injuries this season, that’s for sure.

However, there is a small piece of positive news as Henrikh Mkhitaryan is expected to resume full training this week and has a chance of returning to the squad against Man Utd on Friday night.

The update on Arsenal.com read:

Hector Bellerin
Further to the injury sustained during our match against Chelsea on Saturday, we can confirm that Hector has ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament of his left knee.

Hector will undergo surgery to repair this in the coming days. The rehabilitation process is expected to take between six to nine months and therefore rules Hector out of action for the remainder of this season.

Everyone at the club will now be working as hard as we can to ensure Hector is back on the pitch as soon as possible next season.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan
Right foot. Expected to return to full training this week.

Rob Holding
Left knee. Recovering after surgery.

Danny Welbeck
Right ankle. Recovering after surgery.

With Bellerin now out, I pray Emery doesn’t turn to Stephan Lichtsteiner to solve our problems at right-back as the Swiss international has been a disastrous signing since arriving from Juventus last summer.

Ainsley Maitland-Niles would be a much better choice, especially if we’re playing with wing-backs, so I hope we see him start against Man Utd in the FA Cup on Friday night.