Arsenal injury latest: Unai Emery fears broken jaw for Laurent Koscielny after defender is forced off in defeat
The Frenchman could now be facing a considerable period on the sidelines
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Your support makes all the difference.Arsenal manager Unai Emery fears Laurent Koscielny has suffered a broken jaw, after the France centre-back was forced off injured in the second-half of his side’s 3-1 loss to Manchester United.
Goals from Alexis Sanchez, Jesse Lingard and Anthony Martial fired United into the fifth round of the FA Cup, on a miserable night for Arsenal.
The Gunners lost defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos to a first-half injury, before his centre-back partner Koscielny was forced off later on.
Arsenal are already stretched defensively, with Hector Bellerin and Rob Holding both ruled out for the rest of the season, and Emery fears Koscielny could also be set for an extended period on the sidelines.
“The result tonight is bad and the injuries did not help us,” Emery said.
“Koscielny is going to the hospital tonight for analysis to see what injury he has. Maybe it is a break. I hope not. We are going to have to wait.”
Broken jaws typically take around six weeks to heal, which would rule Koscielny out of several important games, including a trip to Manchester City and both legs of the club’s Europa League tie against BATE Borisov.
There was however better news about Sokratis, who landed awkwardly when challenging Jesse Lingard midway through the first-half. The Greece international received treatment on the pitch and tried to play on before the injury eventually forced him off.
“Sokratis hurt his ankle – I hope not a lot,” Emery said. “I don’t think it is a big injury.”
Emery appeared to blame the two defensive injuries for Arsenal’s defeat, with the Europa League now their best possible chance of success.
“When it was 2-1 [to United] we had the possibility to draw or win today, but I think the injuries, especially the second one to Koscielny, did not help us,” he said.
“We will keep working, but I think the two injuries changed the balance of our team.
“We need to think about the Premier League. We won against Chelsea and are close. We need to push in that competition and we have another important competition in the Europa League.”
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