Arsenal’s head coach Mikel Arteta confirmed that the in-form full-back Takehiro Tomiyasu will be out for a while following a calf injury he picked on the weekend during the Premier League match against Wolves.
The Japanese international has been in outstanding form and his absence will surely be felt by Arteta and his troops as the Gunners are continuing their title charge for the second consecutive year.
Tomiyasu missed Arsenal’s visit to Luton Town on Tuesday (December 5) where Arteta’s men recorded a dramatic 4-3 win courtesy of Declan Rice’s 97th-minute winner in a seven-goal thriller.
Arteta was asked before the match about Tomiyasu to which he replied: “We took him off as a precaution so we’ll wait. He’s a strong boy and hopefully he’ll be fine.”
However, the Spaniard updated the reporters after the match confirming that the scans done on the Japanese footballer weren’t good and he will be out for a while.
“We had a scan and it’s not good news,” Arteta said. “He’s got an injury in his calf and he’s going to be out for a while.”
With the away win, Arsenal go top of the league with five points clear above Liverpool, who could reduce the gap to two with a win over Sheffield United on Wednesday.
On the match against Luton, Arteta added: “I really enjoyed it, especially the end.
“It’s the incredible thing about football, emotions and the moments that you live together. It was a special night.
“Credit to Luton for the incredible atmosphere that they created and the way they played. They made life really difficult for us. But we found a way to win. The resilience and the the character and the quality showed.”
He also talked about the tough schedule where the players have to play a game every three days.
“Playing every three days, and we have to win every game, the demands are there. It’s the way (the players) go about it, how much they want it.
“Today we conceded some goals we’ll be disappointed with. That’s part of it as well, it’s going to happen. It’s how we react to that.”
Arteta continued: “We don’t want to draw, we want to win. That drive, that energy, that risk and that emotion we put in the pitch, you can sense it.
“We should have scored before with the chances that we had. We didn’t, but we tried until the end and we got rewarded.”