Arsenal’s loss to Everton last night may have been bad enough, but Mikel Arteta had more worrying news to tell Gunners fans at full-time in his interview with BBC Sport.
Worrying Smith Rowe update
Emile Smith Rowe missed out on playing for Arsenal last night through injury, with the club simply saying he had a ‘groin’ problem which needed to be ‘assessed’ before the game.
Unfortunately for Arsenal, the severity of the issue meant that Smith Rowe missed out on playing at Goodison Park.
And when asked whether the young England International would be back in time to feature for the weekend, the Arsenal manager didn’t sound the most convinced.
In a worrying statement, he said: “He was in pain and could not train or travel. We will see how he is.”
Huge blow for Arsenal?
Now, if Smith Rowe is to be ruled out for any period of time it will be a blow for Arsenal.
He has arguably been their player of the season so far, and his absence was sorely felt on Merseyside.
While his most natural replacement, Martin Odegaard, did score Arsenal’s goal – they lacked their usual spark without Smith Rowe in the team.
Interestingly Arteta had actually said before the game that Smith Rowe was doing ‘much better’, but his update after full-time looked far less optimistic.
As a result, the Gunners slipped to a 2-1 defeat with two late goals proving to be their undoing.
There had been signs of promise recently under Arteta, but last night’s defeat has quickly put him right back under pressure again.
Arsenal are now sat in seventh place in the Premier League table, with their next fixture coming against Southampton at the weekend.
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