Arsenal are awaiting further tests to determine a timeline for Cristhian Mosquera’s return from injury amid fears the defender could be sidelined for over a month.
Mosquera has started Arsenal’s last two games in place of the injured William Saliba.
However, the summer signing from Valencia was withdrawn during the first half against Brentford after an awkward landing when he contested an aerial duel with Kevin Schade.
Mosquera required treatment on the pitch before being replaced by Jurrien Timber and the BBC have since reported that the defender faces at least six weeks out with an ankle injury.
That timeline would see Mosquera miss most of January, thus deepening Arsenal’s defensive injury crisis even further as they are already without Gabriel.
Arsenal are yet to confirm how severe Mosquera’s injury is, but Mikel Arteta admitted on Friday that the injury was “complicated”.
“That is the one that is more complicated,” Arteta said when asked if Mosquera had a chance to face Villa. “But, again, we have another test today to see where we are with him.”
Pushed on if Mosquera’s injury could be potentially serious, the manager replied: “No. We need to know, because the feeling that we had after the game and yesterday, we need to corroborate with what happens with other testing that we do today.”
In more positive news for the Gunners, Arteta has hinted Saliba and Leandro Trossard could return after two games out to face Aston Villa on Saturday.
“It is a matter of days with those two, for sure,” the Arsenal manager added. “After the training session, we will know more.”
