Arsenal defender Shkodran Mustafi has reportedly been ruled out of this weekend’s clash with Watford after suffering an injury on international duty.
The 25-year-old pulled up with what looked to be a hamstring problem in the win over Azerbaijan in the first half, as he was helped off the pitch and replaced.
In turn, there were already major doubts over his chances of featuring this weekend, and ultimately it looks as though it has been ruled out, as noted by freelance injury analyst Ben Dinnery in the tweet below.
Mustafi has been ruled out of this weekends trip to Vicarage Road although there has been no time frame placed on his potential return. #AFC
— Ben Dinnery (@BenDinnery) October 10, 2017
Mustafi’s return to the first team coincided with Arsenal’s upturn in form in recent weeks as he started the last four Premier League games, with the Gunners winning three and picking up one draw.
They also won their Europa League clash with BATE Borisov with the German international in the line-up, and so in the interests of a settled backline and consistency, it will be a blow for Arsene Wenger to lose the experienced centre-half and be forced into a reshuffle.
It may get worse for Arsenal depending on how bad the strain is, as they’ll be back in action in midweek next week with their trip to Red Star Belgrade followed by a clash with Everton at Goodison Park the following weekend.
In such a busy period of the campaign, the last thing Wenger needs is for his injury list to get any longer.