Arsenal star Kai Havertz is set to miss the north London derby against Tottenham on Sunday week after suffering another injury.
Havertz has recently enjoyed a positive run of form in the side after suffering an injury on the opening day of the season at Old Trafford, but his latest setback – a new muscle issue – is a blow amid concerns over his long-term fitness from club officials.
As first reported by Daily Mail Sport in January, there have been concerns over the German’s long-term fitness after his knee flared up on his return – with the club forced to limit the forward’s minutes to give him the best chance of playing a key role this season.
Havertz had surgery a week after his injury against Man United and the German was one week away from returning to a matchday squad in November before picking up a problem in his final training sessions.
It is now understood that Havertz has re-injured the same knee he damaged at Old Trafford – a devastating setback for the forward and one which led to another phase of rehab.
Now, he is set to miss at least Arsenal’s next three league games – on Thursday against Brentford, next week against Wolves, and the crunch derby clash with Tottenham next weekend.
Arsenal are set to be without Kai Havertz for the foreseeable future following his latest injury
The Gunners also play Wigan in the FA Cup this weekend.
Havertz returned to action against Portsmouth in the same competition on January 11, and has scored twice in four games since.
After his player of the match performance against Kairat in the Champions League, Mikel Arteta said of his man: ‘The team knows how important Kai is for us and how he can help the team to be much better and take the team to another level.
‘Let’s bring him on board and make sure we use him in the right way because he is going to be really important for us in the second part of the season.’
