Mikel Arteta issues injury update on key Arsenal star after Inter Milan defeat as Chelsea clash closes in

Mikel Arteta has issued an update on Mikel Merino after Arsenal’s Champions League defeat to Inter Milan on Wednesday night. Hakan Calhanoglu’s penalty in first-half stoppage time proved to the difference between the two teams in a bruising encounter at San Siro.

The result means it is back-to-back defeats for the Gunners, and they were left angered by the result due to missing out on a potential penalty. Arsenal midfielder Merino received a punch to the head from Yann Sommer, with the Inter keeper coming out to try to punch the ball, hitting the Spaniard instead. Arteta said of the incident: “But then if that’s a penalty then the one on Mikel Merino when he punches him in the head has to be 1000% a penalty and these are the margins in this game and it’s very very difficult to accept.”

Merino was taken off by Arteta, leading to fears of an injury or concussion, but the Arsenal boss says there is nothing to worry about on that front. “He was not concussed. But yesterday and today he was already not feeling great,” he added. “After, when I looked at him, I decided to take him off because I need him 100%.”

Arsenal are now seven points behind Premier League leaders Liverpool, while they are also behind Chelsea in the table, albeit only on goal difference. This weekend will bring another big challenge for the Gunners as they look to get their title charge back on track. “If we play the way we play, we‘ll have a big chance to win against Chelsea,” said a still confident Arteta. “That‘s the way we have to go. I told them that I’m proud of them. I haven‘t seen them play in Europe in the manner that we have today. We are disappointed because we didn’t get what we wanted out of the game, that’s for sure.”

Arteta on Inter defeat

Arteta remains calm after the Inter defeat, claiming his side’s performance deserved more than the defeat they were handed. He said: “The worst thing of the night, for sure, is the result, because the performance, the attitude, the dominance that we showed against one of the best teams in Europe in this stadium.

“I haven’t seen it in all the other games that I’ve watched but the reality is the result and we participated in that because we had many situations that we can resolve much better in front of goal and score at least two goals and then extremely frustrated as well because there are two decisions that at the end marks the result and the course of the game.”