Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has admitted to the London Evening Standard that Pablo Mari’s injury has been worse than he feared.
Arsenal have been without Mari all season so far, after he damaged his ankle back in June.
The hope was that the Spaniard would be available soon, but Arteta has now revealed that the central defender has suffered a set-back.
And he has been surprised by the length of time that it has taken the Brazilian to come back to full health.
“I was hoping that Pablo [Mari] would be back in two weeks, but he had a setback,” Arteta said.
If Mari had been fit he would have been a useful player to have available right now.
Arsenal are down to the bare bones at centre-back, after David Luiz has picked up a knock.
Mari has looked fairly assured in Arsenal’s backline since he arrived and would surely have had a chance of being selected against Dundalk this evening, if he had been available.
Unfortunately, though, it seems that he could be out for a while yet, with Arsenal’s official website now saying that they are aiming to get the 27-year-old back in full training by mid November.
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