More Bad News for Arsenal as Defender is Ruled Out for the Season Due to Injury

As the crucial stage of the campaign nears, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta is eager to have a full squad at his disposal. With important matches coming up in both the Premier League and the Champions League, Arteta is hoping to keep pace with league leaders Liverpool and make a strong push in the knockout stages of the European competition.

That certainly won't be the case, however. While Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli are both expected to make a return some time in March after suffering hamstring issues in recent months, Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus will both miss the rest of 2024/25 through a hamstring tear and ACL injury, respectively.

Arsenal lose another player for the rest of the season to injury

Defender Takehiro Tomiyasu has made just one appearance for Arsenal this season, coming on late in their October win over Southampton. Having suffered a slight knee injury on their pre-season tour of America in the summer, Tomiyasu had to wait until the seventh game of the campaign to make his first appearance.

But that sole appearance will prove to be the Japan international's only appearance for the Gunners in 2024/25, with Tomiyasu now ruled out until at least next term after he suffered a set-back in his recovery from that aforementioned knee injury.

"I’ve had a surgery on my knee few days ago," Tomiyasu said on Instagram. "I’ve already started my rehab to do what I love the most again.

"It has been the toughest period in my career for sure and it carries on a bit more but I won’t give up. Thank you for your support and see you again."

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Despite being without Tomiyasu for the remainder of this season, Arteta still has a strong set of defenders to select from. Ben White and Jurrien Timber are both strong right-backs, while starting centre-backs William Saliba and Gabriel are backed up by Riccardo Calafiori and Jakub Kiwior.

At left-back, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Kieran Tierney are all in competition, too.

In FourFourTwo's view, it's not the end of the world for Arsenal that Tomiyasu is injured for the rest of the season. They've already coped fairly well without the 26-year-old, though he would've provided greater depth for Arteta to rotate during the run-in.

Arsenal are back in Premier League action on Saturday when they take on West Ham at the Emirates.