Kai Havertz has certainly been unfortunate lately, when it comes to injuries. He has suffered a fresh setback, which has been reported to be a “muscular injury.”
The German forward will miss the rest of this month, and that’s really too bad, when you consider how Havertz was only a month into his comeback from the knee injury he sustained at the beginning of the campaign, which forced him to miss the first half of the 2025–26 season.
FA Cup 4th Round FYIs
Arsenal FC vs Wigan Athletic
Kickoff: Sun. Feb 15, 4:30pm
Venue: Emirates Stadium, London, UK
Arsenal Team News
The Arsenal star also missed a big chunk of last season, due to a hamstring tear. So we’ll likely see Havertz again in early March sometime. In other fitness news, William Saliba missed out on the score draw with Brentford, due to an illness.
He is a doubt for the visit from Wigan Athletic on Sunday. Even if match fit, he wouldn’t likely be selected for a match like this, against a lower division side, anyway.
Otherwise, nothing else has changed with the team fitness situation, but Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta provided updates yesterday on long-term injured players Max Dowman and Mikel Merino.
Let’s start with Merino, who just completed a successful surgical procedure on his foot.
“Well, I think the doctors were really happy the way it went,” Arteta said. “Yeah, now it starts.”
“Obviously, it’s a long process. You’re talking about bone healing, so you need to be patient. You respect the timings, and I’m sure Mikel is going to do everything that he possibly can to speed up the process.
“We’re talking about months, whether it’s three, four or five, we don’t know.”
So he’ll miss most of what’s left of this season.
On Dowman, he said:
“Max is still not available. The rest, we will see when we make the medical meeting. He’s doing very well. I think he will be with us in a week or so, and then he just needs to pick up the rhythm and be available for us.”
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network, RG.org and Ratings.org. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes and the Washington Post.