The Gunners’ manager, Mikel Arteta has been counting the cost of losing two of his most important players, holding midfielder Lucas Torreira and prolific striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, after Arsenal‘s 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace on Saturday.
Torreira was withdrawn with an injury during the break at Selhurst Park. Aubameyang was shown a red card in the 67th minute after a VAR review upgraded his initial booking for a reckless challenge on Palace midfielder Max Meyer.
Mikel Arteta has confirmed that Lucas Torreira picked up a muscle injury during Arsenal’s draw with Crystal Palace on Saturday. The in-form Uruguayan had a strong start to the game at Selhurst Park but was replaced by Matteo Guendouzi at half-time.
It came after the 23-year-old was involved in a clash with team-mate Nicolas Pepe during the first half, but was able to continue after receiving treatment.
However, Arteta later suggested that Torreira was forced off by a different issue on a frustrating afternoon for the Gunners’ boss.
“It’s a muscle injury,”
“We will have to assess it with the doctors tomorrow or the day after then we will know more.”
“When Matteo came on he was really good but obviously he (Torreira) has been in good form and given us a lot.
“But I had to get him off because he wasn’t feeling good.”
Arsenal was dealt another blow with captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang sent off for a tackle on Max Meyer with just over 20 minutes to go. They now face being without their key front-man, who opened the scoring in the first half, for the next three games – but Arteta had no complaints.
“I just watched it and it looked nasty, to be fair,” he stated.
“Knowing Auba, there’s no intention to make such a tackle.
“Hopefully he (Meyer) hasn’t been injured and we are sorry for that. The decision was made and we have to accept it.”
On the prospect of being without his team’s top scorer for the next three matches, the Spaniard continued:
“That’s a massive blow.
“We know how important Auba is for the team. Maybe we’re going to lose him for a couple of games.”
Arsenal will return into action on the weekend where they will be up against in-form Chris Wilder’s Sheffield United. It seems interesting to see how Gunners’ will cope with the loss of two important players.
