Arsenal love to be as secretive as possible when it comes to injury news, but sometimes it gets leaked out anyway. Kai Havertz is set to miss the rest of the season with a hamstring injury, according to The Guardian.
That is absolutely devastating blow, all in itself, but this situation is even more damaging when you consider the context.
Leicester City vs Arsenal FC FYIs
Kick-off: Saturday, Feb. 15, 12:30pm local, King Power Stadium
Arsenal Preview Material: Starting XI Prediction Team News
Google Result Probability: Arsenal victory 75% Draw 16% Leicester City victory 9%
Gunners Team News
The Gunners now have zero, and I mean literally zero recognized center forwards on the senior team roster. Gabriel Jesus is out until next fall with an ACL injury. Bukayo Saka is out until April with a thigh injury.
As for Gabriel Martinelli, he will sidelined for awhile with a hamstring injury.
Manager Mikel Arteta said last week:
“He felt something, I think it was his hamstring, and he wasn’t comfortable to continue, so we have to have an MRI scan tomorrow to see the extent of the injury.”
Perhaps Leandro Trossard will have to play in the central forward role for now? They’ll have to call up a striker from the youth team too. With the January transfer window having passed, they can’t buy a quality striker from another team.
Instead they’ll have to make a scrap heap signing of a free agent somewhere.
Yikes, yikes and yikes. This is a disaster all around, and in hindsight, they should have picked up someone up in the winter window.
Kai Havertz sustained the injury during a warm weather training camp session in Dubai this past week/weekend. Arsenal had a rare weekend off, due to their early elimination from the FA Cup.
Shifting to the back, Ben White could be close to a return while Takehiro Tomiyasu remains sidelined as a longer-term injury absentee.
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, the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America and RG. 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, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter.