Mikel Arteta pessimistic on midfield injuries and admits Arsenal may move on deadline day

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Mikel Arteta pessimistic on midfield injuries and admits Arsenal may move on deadline day

Mikel Arteta has confirmed that injuries to Thomas Partey and Mohamed Elneny has left Arsenal looking to make a Deadline Day move for midfield cover, confirming after Wednesday night's 2-1 win over Aston Villa that the Egyptian is going to be out for 'a while'.

Albert Sambi Lokonga filled in next to Granit Xhaka and Martin Odegaard as the third midfielder against Villa, but Arteta admitted that – with the Europa League starting imminently and a compressed schedule due to the World Cup – the Gunners are now in some need of reinforcements.

On Elneny, he said: "That's not good news, he still needs to see a specialist but I'm afraid we're going to lose Mo for a while.

"[Elneny's injury] has an impact because also Thomas is injured, and we are a bit short in that position. We have Sambi, players like Granit can play there, but we are looking at options in the market. The club has been super supportive to try to keep improving the team and the squad as we can. If the right player is there and we can do it, we will try."

He laughed off a question about how much money is left in the transfer kitty, calling himself 'not a financial guy', but expanded on the latest about Partey's injury – after confirming on the weekend that the injury is similar to the one which limited him last season.

"He's going to be out for a while, but I don't know how long that period is going to be. It's not the first injury he's had in that area so it's a recurring injury, it's more for the doctors to give it a timeline."

Martin Odegaard came off in the second half after picking up a knock of his own, with Arteta saying "Yeah, he got a bad kick as you can see. I don't know, it's very recent so we'll have to wait for the next few hours, how he recovers."

In case that wasn't enough, Aaron Ramsdale went down late on in the match feeling his hamstring, although he recovered after treatment to see out the 90 minutes. "I think he felt something," said the Arsenal manager. "I don't know what exactly. He managed to finish the game, but it's another one we'll have to assess."

Arsenal face their toughest taste of the season on Sunday, their 100% record on the line when they go away to face Manchester United at Old Trafford.