Arsenal's Granit Xhaka out for three months after suffering knee injury

Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka will be out for up to three months after suffering a significant knee injury against Tottenham Hotspur, the club announced on Wednesday. Following a challenge from Lucas Moura, Xhaka limped off the field after 82 minutes in Arsenal’s 3-1 win over Spurs on Sunday. The club said in a statement that the Swiss international had injured his medial knee ligament but would not need surgery. The injury also means Switzerland will be without their captain for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Northern Ireland and Lithuania.

“Further to injuring his right knee during Sunday’s match against Tottenham Hotspur, assessments and scans have confirmed that Granit Xhaka suffered a significant injury to his medial knee ligament,” Arsenal’s statement read. “A specialist consultation took place in London on Tuesday evening which has determined that Granit does not require surgery. Granit’s recovery and rehabilitation programme will start immediately and we are aiming for him to be back in action in approximately three months. Everyone at the club will now be supporting and working hard with Granit to get him back on the pitch as soon as possible,” it added.

Xhaka has had a difficult few months. Sunday was the Swiss international’s first game back after serving a three-match suspension for a red card in a 5-0 loss to Manchester City. He had only recently recovered from a positive Covid test during the international break.

ARSENAL UNSTOPPABLE AGAINST SPURS

Had it not been for the Xhaka injury, Arsenal would have had an absolutely perfect North London derby day. The Gunners, who have been in dismal form since the start of the season, have finally found some form and are beginning to fire. Many had expected Spurs to emerge victorious in the match against Arsenal as Nuno Espirito Santo had led them to three victories in four matches, including a 1-0 win against defending champions Manchester City.

Arsenal, on the other hand, had not fared quite well. They had lost their opening three matches in the Premier League and manager Mikel Arteta was under tremendous pressure. The Gunners scrapped a sloppy 1-0 win over newly-promoted Norwich City in the league before welcoming their arch-rivals to the Emirates Stadium.

However, the script did not play out as many had expected. It was Spurs on the backfoot through large parts of the game as Arsenal turned up the style. Three first-half goals from the Gunners sealed what would be a comfortable derby day victory.

Emile Smith-Rowe opened the scoring in just the 12th minute of the game. Veteran striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang finally seems to have found his mojo back as he slotted home the second Arsenal goal in the 27th minute. Youngster Bukayo Saka scored the third goal in the 34th minute and it was game over for Spurs just like that.

Nuno’s side did get a goal back during the later stages of the second half thanks to South Korean attacker Son Heung-Min. However, that would only be a consolation on what otherwise was a forgettable day for Spurs fans.