Mikel Arteta 'worried' after Arsenal suffer another hammer injury blow in Liverpool title race

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Arsenal are six points behind Liverpool in the Premier League table.

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has admitted that he is seriously worried about the extent of Gabriel Jesus’ injury.

The Gunners crashed out of the FA Cup on Sunday after losing to Manchester United on penalties after a 1-1 draw following extra-time at the Emirates Stadium. Despite Diogo Dalot being sent off on the hour mark of the third-round tie Arsenal were unable to break down 10-man United, with Martin Odegaard missing a penalty in normal time.

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It means that the London outfit’s chances of winning a trophy this season have slimmed. In the Premier League, Arsenal sit six points behind leaders Liverpool, who have a game in hand. The Gunners currently have key forward Bukayo Saka injured as well as teenage starlet Ethan Nwaneri. Now Jesus faces a spell on the sidelines after he was stretchered off in the 40th minute with a knee injury.

Arsenal face Tottenham in the North London derby on Wednesday but it is unlikely Jesus will be available. “Big worry, that’s my feeling,” said Arteta at his post-match press conference. “He had to come off on a stretcher, with a lot of pain, touching his knee. It’s not looking good. I think it is the other one [and not the knee he injured at the 2022 World Cup].

“But the worrying factor is more the feeling that he had, when he had to come off, and the pain that he was in.” Arteta confirmed that Jesus did not require to go to hospital and instead went home.

The Brazil international has been in decent form for Arsenal of late, scoring six goals in his past seven appearances. But he looks set to be confirmed to the treatment room for a period along with Saka, Nwaneri and defenders Ben White and Takehiro Tomiyasu.

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On the defeat to United, Arteta said: “Incredible how we didn’t win the game, that’s basically to sum up, the dominance, the superiority in relation to the opposition and everything we did to try to win the game and that’s it, we didn’t get what we deserve clearly, but there is an element about putting the ball in the back of the net, we did it once, with the amount of situations, chances, penalties that we had, we didn’t.

“We go home extremely sad but I cannot be prouder of my players, the team, individually, collectively what they have produced, on Wednesday night against Newcastle, against two top teams, it’s incredible. We haven’t got rewarded and that’s the downside to it.”

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