Arsenal were blown away by Liverpool last weekend and all the good work that Unai Emery had done since the start of the season was dismantled in a flash.
The Gunners though have come back strongly in their first game of the new season beating Fulham 4-1 at home on Tuesday night.
The game saw goals from four different Arsenal players with Granit Xhaka giving the lead in the 25th minute and then it was Alexandre Lacazette who virtually broke the Fulham resistance by making it 2-0 right after half-time.
And then Aaron Ramsey and Pierre Emerick Aubameyang got into the act late in the second half.
But it seems that these comfortable three points against the Cottagers might have come at a price.
Shkodran Mustafi was taken on at half-time and since then there were rumours that the defender might have picked up an injury.
And speaking after the game, Unai Emery has confirmed that Mustafi has indeed picked up a hamstring injury.
“It’s a small injury, a small problem. He didn’t feel well after the first half and said for us to change.” the Arsenal manager said
“It’s not a big injury. He wanted to play today to help us, so maybe we can give him a few days rest to help us. Yes [it’s a hamstring].”
The Arsenal manager has not given a return date on Mustafi but given that the hamstring injury is not very serious the defender will be expected to miss 10 to 14 days of action.
Arsenal take on Blackpool in the FA Cup this weekend and this will not be a cause of concern for Emery.
But right after the FA Cup game, Arsenal take on West Ham United and then Chelsea.
While Shkodran Mustafi should return in time to face Chelsea but it is the match vs the Hammers which will pose some problems for Emery.
With Rob Holding out for the rest of the season, Emery now has only two fully fit defenders(Sokratis and Koscielny).
And with Shkodran Mustafi also out of the picture, the Gunners boss must scrape the idea of a three-man central defence and fall back to the traditional 4-1-3-2.
Or instead of Shkodran Mustafi play Granit Xhaka in central defence(with the likes of Arnautovic and Hernandez running down the channels).
