Arsenal midfielder Emile Smith Rowe suffered an injury setback that ruled him out of Wednesday night’s defeat to West Ham United in the League Cup.
The 23-year-old didn’t start a single game last season due to injury problems, but has been working his way back to fitness this season and was named in the starting XI by Mikel Arteta for the first time in 499 days against Brentford in the third round of the League Cup in September.
The Gunners revealed that Smith Rowe had suffered a new injury, tweeting: “Emile Smith Rowe misses out on tonight’s squad due to a knee issue.”
After the game Arteta revealed that Smith Rowe is “going to be out for weeks” in a fresh blow to the manager.
The team is already without star striker Gabriel Jesus, who suffered a hamstring injury during their 2-1 victory over Sevilla in the Uefa Champions League, forcing him off in the latter stages of the second half.
Thomas Partey is also sidelined by a muscle complaint that the midfielder picked up ahead of the trip to the south of Spain. On Tuesday Arteta said that he didn’t know how long the Ghanaian would out for, but admitted it was a “big concern”.
Jurrien Timber is out with a long-term injury after suffering an ACL tear in the opening game of the Premier League campaign.
