Arsenal star set to miss a few weeks through injury

Arsenal star set to miss a few weeks through injury Arsenal Injury Blow as Christos Tzolis Faces Spell Out with Hamstring Issue Arsenal may have a familiar problem on their hands, an attacker picking up a muscle injury on international duty and returning with a cloud over his availability. According to Standard Sport , Christos Tzolis is facing up to three weeks out after the hamstring issue he suffered while playing for Greece. The 24-year-old, signed from Club Brugge in the summer, lasted fewer than 20 minutes in Greece’s Nations League draw with the Netherlands before pulling up with what was described as a right hamstring problem. That alone is concerning. What followed made it more striking. Tzolis apparently wanted to carry on. Greece manager Ivan Jovanovic gave a colourful account of the exchange. He said: “How do I handle it? You tell me? I’m his coach, I tell him to go out and he says ‘I’m not going out’.” He then added: “I told him to get out, because I suspected that he wouldn’t have done that if he hadn’t felt something. We don’t know how big the damage is today, but I hoped it was just a twitch, something temporary.” That is admirable commitment, and also exactly the sort of thing clubs hate hearing in October. International football has prestige, players want to represent their country, and managers at club level are left hoping the damage is limited. Arsenal are now waiting for scan results after Tzolis underwent tests in Greece on Friday. Photo: IMAGO Christos Tzolis Injury Timeline Looks Awkward for Arsenal The early indication, again via Standard Sport, is that Tzolis could be sidelined for around 20 days. Three weeks is not a disaster in isolation, but timing matters. Arsenal are about to enter a dense run of fixtures across the Premier League, Champions League and domestic commitments. Remove one attacker from the rotation and the margin for error narrows quickly. If the current estimate proves accurate, Tzolis is set to miss Leeds at home on October 10, Lille at the Emirates on October 13 and Nottingham Forest away on October 18. There is a theoretical chance he could return in time for Bayern Munich on October 21, but that looks optimistic. A more sensible target would be Everton three days later. Jovanovic’s comments also made clear why he took the decision out of the player’s hands. “I didn’t have any reason to be honest, because these aren’t qualifiers, they’re the Nations League. First and foremost I wanted to protect the player.” That is the right call. Managers are there to manage, not to indulge a player’s stubbornness when a hamstring is involved. Arsenal Squad Depth Faces Early Test For Mikel Arteta, this is less about panic and more about inconvenience. October can expose any squad. Six matches in a month, three competitions, shifting demands, varying opposition. Tzolis may not be the headline name in Arsenal’s forward line, but depth players only feel secondary until they are unavailable. Jovanovic’s final line summed up the spirit of the episode, saying: “He didn’t want to stay near me to go out. Instead, he went to defend the corner. And then he went out. These are our players.” Fine sentiment, though Arsenal supporters will care more about the scan than the romance. That is where this stands. Arsenal are waiting, Tzolis is being assessed, and an already busy month may have become a little more complicated. Our View From an Arsenal supporter’s perspective, this is exactly the sort of update that grates. You spend money on a player, you integrate him, you build your schedule around having options, and then international football takes one away before the month properly gets going. Nobody is blaming Tzolis for wanting to play for Greece, that part is obvious. The problem is that Arsenal now carry the cost. And yes, the quotes about spirit and mentality sound nice. They always do in the moment. But supporters do not get points for bravery in a Nations League game. If a player feels his hamstring, he comes off. End of story. The line, “I’m not going out”, might make him sound committed, but it should also make Arsenal fans wince. What makes this more annoying is the timing. Leeds, Lille and Nottingham Forest are not throwaway fixtures. Squad management matters, particularly if Arsenal are serious about maintaining standards across multiple competitions. A three-week absence can quickly become four if the recovery is rushed, and hamstrings are notorious for that. So the club need to be ruthless here. No risks, no emotional calls, no talk of getting him back early for Bayern Munich if he is not ready. Use the squad, manage the minutes, and make sure this does not become one of those minor injuries that drags through half a season. Arsenal have bigger targets than rushing an October return.