Arsenal have been dealt another injury blow, with one of Mikel Arteta's defenders now being ruled out for the rest of the season.
With the business end of the campaign approaching Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta would have hoped to have a full compliment of players to select from as the Gunners attempt to keep pace with Liverpool in the Premier League and challenge in the knockout stages of the Champions League.
That certainly won't be the case, however. While Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli are both expected to make a return some time in March after suffering hamstring issues in recent months, Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus will both miss the rest of 2024/25 through a hamstring tear and ACL injury, respectively.
Arsenal lose another player for the rest of the season to injury
Defender Takehiro Tomiyasu has made just one appearance for Arsenal this season, coming on late in their October win over Southampton. Having suffered a slight knee injury on their pre-season tour of America in the summer, Tomiyasu had to wait until the seventh game of the campaign to make his first appearance.
But that sole appearance will prove to be the Japan international's only appearance for the Gunners in 2024/25, with Tomiyasu now ruled out until at least next term after he suffered a set-back in his recovery from that aforementioned knee injury.
"I’ve had a surgery on my knee few days ago," Tomiyasu said on Instagram. "I’ve already started my rehab to do what I love the most again.
"It has been the toughest period in my career for sure and it carries on a bit more but I won’t give up. Thank you for your support and see you again."
Despite being without Tomiyasu for the remainder of this season, Arteta still has a strong set of defenders to select from. Ben White and Jurrien Timber are both strong right-backs, while starting centre-backs William Saliba and Gabriel are backed up by Riccardo Calafiori and Jakub Kiwior.
At left-back, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Kieran Tierney are all in competition, too.
In FourFourTwo's view, it's not the end of the world for Arsenal that Tomiyasu is injured for the rest of the season. They've already coped fairly well without the 26-year-old, though he would've provided greater depth for Arteta to rotate during the run-in.
Arsenal are back in Premier League action on Saturday when they take on West Ham at the Emirates.
