Arsenal dealt another defensive injury as Pablo Mari set for spell on sidelines

Mikel Arteta has been dealt another blow with Pablo Mari facing an injury lay-off.

Gunners boss Arteta expects Mari to be out for a “few matches” after suffering a calf injury in training to add to Arsenal ’s defensive worries.

Left back Kieran Tierney is undergoing an MRI scan on a similar muscle injury but the hope is that it is not too serious as he was pulled out of the Crystal Palace game at the last minute as a precautionary measure.

However, Spanish centre half Mari – a key factor in Arsenal’s improved form – is likely to be missing for longer and is out of Monday’s game with Newcastle but Gabriel could return.

Arteta said: “He had a calf injury in training [on Wednesday]. I think he will miss a few matches. He's another one we will lose but we've got Gabi [Magalhaes] back after COVID, which is good news, we've got Thomas Partey back as well. Let's focus on the positives.”

Arteta also hinted that Partey could be ready to start against Newcastle after a frustrating beginning to his Arsenal career because of injury.

“Obviously Thomas hasn't played much football in the last four months. He had an injury in exactly the same place he had before when he got injured against Spurs,” said Arteta.

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“Now we have the reassurance that he can compete. He did it for 25, 30 minutes. He did it well, he didn't feel anything so now we're going to be looking for the next step.”

Meanwhile, Arsenal defender Hector Bellerin admitted they missed a chance to maintain their winning run against Crystal Palace but insisted the positive was that they are now harder to beat.

Bellerin added: “That is what we want, we want to be a team that is hard to beat – if we cannot score goals we want to make sure we aren't conceding either so at least we can get that point.

“We want to play in the other team's half and I think we did that against Crystal Palace and now it is up to find that little spark that we have had in the last few weeks, it just wasn't there.

“Obviously we need to be happy in the sense that we kept another clean sheet but now it is for us to push forward and keep scoring goals and there will be nothing to worry about.”

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