BREAKING NEWS: He can off the bench to secure winning for us against Bayern Munich now the Club doctors have confirmed His unavailability against Chelsea due to the injury He sustained in training this morning”, Mikel Arteta confirmed Arsenal game changer against Bayern munich is now officially ruled out of Chelsea game – Not Calafiori
Arsenal go into this weekend’s meeting with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge buoyed by Wednesday night’s impressive 3-1 win over Bayern Munich, and will need that bounce with the hosts also going into the match off the back of European success.
There was one negative to come from the victory over the German giants with Leandro Trossard forced off after 38 minutes with what appeared to be a calf injury. That made space for Noni Madueke to come on and the former Chelsea man dazzled, scoring his first goal for the club.
Speaking after the game, when asked about Trossard’s injury, Arteta said: “With Leo, we don’t know [the extent of the injury]. He said he felt something. We didn’t want to take any risks, obviously.”
Arsenal handed injury blow in Bayern Munich win
On paper, that might not be too big a problem for Mikel Arteta with a host of wide players available for selection in Madueke, Gabriel Martinelli, Eberechi Eze, Ethan Nwaneri, Max Dowman and Bukayo Saka.
However, Trossard is in form with two goals and two assists in his last four league outings. A potential absence for the Belgian international is made more painful for Arsenal given his prolific record against the Blues.
The winger has faced Chelsea 10 times across his career and lost just once – that was all the way back in the summer of 2020 when Brighton fell to a 3-1 defeat. Trossard still scored his side’s only goal in that match.
The forward hasn’t lost against the London club since and has added a further three goals against the opponents. He has only scored more goals against Liverpool.
Leandro Trossard prolific against Chelsea
Trossard was particularly important for Arsenal in the matches against Chelsea over the 2023/24 season. In the trip to Stamford Bridge, he came off the bench to score an 84th minute equaliser in a 2-2 draw.
Speaking after that match, Arteta said: “First of all he’s very good. He’s got this mentality to always be willing to help the team. He had an injury where he wasn’t fit enough to play the last two games. Those things change the momentum of the season.”
In the reverse fixture at the Emirates Stadium, Trossard then went and opened the scoring in a 5-0 rout after just four minutes. The player would go on to remember that outing as ‘the perfect night’.
It remains to be seen whether Trossard is indeed ruled out this weekend but, even if he is nursing a small niggle, a rest seems somewhat inevitable given the busy fixture period ahead. Arteta doesn’t have bad backup options in the likes of Madueke and Martinelli, but the Gunners could be without somewhat of a secret Chelsea weapon on Sunday.
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