Arsenal suffered another blow this week as test results revealed that new signing Mikel Merino will miss the next two months of action with a shoulder injury.
The Euro 2024 winner completed his move to the Premier League club last week as part of a £31.6m deal with Real Sociedad and was expected to make his Gunners debut after of the international break against Tottenham.
However, in the build-up to Arsenal’s clash with Brighton at the weekend, the 28-year-old picked up a shoulder injury during his first training session with Mikel Arteta confirming it was caused when Gabriel Magalhaes landed the Spain international after the pair clashed together.
According to the Daily MailMerino will now miss nearly two months with his shoulder problem with the midfielder not expected until mid-October at the earliest.
This is a major blow for Arteta and is the third the Gunners have suffered in the past week ahead of a crucial North London Derby on Sunday 15 September.
Mikel Merino’s injury news is another major blow for Arsenal
The news of Merino’s injury is the third major blow for Arsenal ahead of their clash with Tottenham after the Gunners dropped points against Brighton on Saturday and Declan Rice was controversially shown a red card during that game, which means the England star will miss the North London Derby. .
Merino would have replaced the former West Ham man for the game with Spurs, but with both unavailable, Arteta will have to think outside the box a bit.
Although it is very early in the season, Arsenal cannot afford to drop any more points against Tottenham with Man City starting their campaign in impressive fashion. This makes the North London Derby even bigger as both clubs need all three points.
