Injury blow for Arsenal as they’re forced to play 70 minutes without striker after star goes off injured
ARSENAL suffered a major blow as Leandro Trossard went off injured inside just twenty minutes versus Bournemouth, leaving them without a striker.
The Gunners were already off to a nightmare start when the Cherries scored after just ten seconds.
And things got worse when Trossard was forced off hurt with Emile Smith Rowe coming on.
It was just the 22-year-old’s eighth appearances of the season and he has not started a match at all this campaign due to injury troubles.
With recognised strikers Eddie Nketiah and Gabriel Jesus in the treatment room, Mikel Arteta started the Belgian up top.
But after he went down, the manager had to turn to his bench with just Smith Rowe and Reiss Nelson as attacking options.
Gabriel Martinelli could now be set to move into the centre-forward’s position or the English midfielder could play in a false nine role.
It presents Arteta with a huge headache in what is a vital game for his team.
Title rivals Manchester City had just beaten Newcastle earlier in the day 2-0, closing the gap at the top of the league to just two points.
Arsenal face tough games against Fulham, Crystal Palace and Leeds to come in the Premier League with the Europa League tie versus Sporting Lisbon sandwiched in between.
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And the Gunners may enter the crucial time of the season amid an injury crisis.
Jesus is still recovering from knee surgery and is not expected to be back particularly soon.
Meanwhile, Nketiah’s injury is not thought to be long-term with the club hoping he would have been okay for today.
The extent of Trossard’s injury is unknown but it is a huge setback after a promising start to life in North London.
The man brought in from Brighton has netted one goal and grabbed two assists in eight appearances.