Granit Xhaka was replaced by Fabio Vieira inside 16 minutes of Arsenal's clash at Wolverhampton Wanderers. The change came moments after requiring treatment after clutching onto his stomach.
The Swiss midfielder seemed to enlighten club physio Simon Murphy of stomach concerns after only three minutes. Xhaka went down unchallenged before continuing in the West Midlands, but he signalled to the referee of his discomfort by holding his stomach.
He was replaced by Vieira not long later and headed straight down the tunnel back in the visitors changing room. It remains unclear whether Xhaka has picked up an injury or whether it is just illness.
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Xhaka's troubles do open the door for Vieira to impress after struggling in midweek against Brighton in the Carabao Cup. The 22-year-old has struggled to recapture the form he showed in his early days at the club and had his form discussed by Mikel Arteta following the defeat to Brighton.
"I think in front of goal he’s been unlucky because in the past two games he could have scored a few goals," the Gunners boss said in midweek.
"But every player needs time to adapt obviously. When he played against Brentford away from home and he’s surrounded with players he’s more familiar with it’s a bit easier.
We’ve asked him to play lots of different positions as well because of the needs that we have in the squad," the Spaniard added. "But, I’m not worried at all."
Arteta was then asked whether he thinks Vieira has settled in at London Colney. He replied: "Well he missed a big part because he was injured for two and a half months and he missed the whole preseason and didn’t have any preseason. I think that period in the World Cup is going to make him very good."
The game against the Premier League bottom side presents the former Porto man with over an hour of action to redeem himself from midweek. With Martin Odegaard on the field, Vieira tucked into the Gunners midfield two alongside Thomas Partey.
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