Arsenal will be without Viktor Gyokeres for Tuesday’s Champions League game at Slavia Prague after the Swedish striker picked up a muscle injury at the weekend, manager Mikel Arteta said on Monday.
Gyokeres scored the opener in Arsenal’s 2-0 win at Burnley on Saturday, his fourth Premier League goal of the season, but did not emerge for the second half, and Arteta confirmed he would not feature in the match in Prague.
“He’s definitely not available,” Arteta told reporters.
“He hasn’t trained today, and we need to do some more tests and scans in the next few days to understand the extent of the injury, but for this game he is not available.”
Gyokeres, who joined Arsenal from Sporting in July for 55 million euros ($64.14 million), has started 13 games this season for the club across the domestic league and the Champions League, and his absence is a worry for the manager.
“Concern because he hasn’t had many muscular issues, and he had to leave the pitch, and he was feeling something,” Arteta said.
“That’s obviously never a good sign, especially for a player that is very, very explosive. So we are digging in a little bit more to understand where we are in terms of the injury, and we’ll announce the moment we know more.”
Gyokeres netted 39 league goals for Sporting last season, along with six in the Champions League and the Swede’s injury comes just when he looked to be hitting his stride with Arsenal.
Saturday’s goal was his first in the league since September 13, and he also netted twice in the most recent Champions League game, a 4-0 win over Atletico Madrid.
“Obviously he was very disappointed after the match with what he felt, but this is part of football,” Arteta said.
“If you expect a linear line, everything going up, it’s not going to happen, and if he’s got something, he’s going to have to deal with it, we will help him to do that.
“He was in a really good moment, in really good form, very important for the team. But for tomorrow, we don’t have him, so that’s it.”
Arsenal have won all three Champions League games this season without conceding a goal while Slavia are still without a win in the league phase of the competition and are on two points.
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