Gabriel Jesus is showing positive signs in his recovery from a hamstring injury, though he remains unavailable for Arsenal’s upcoming clash against Brighton and Hove Albion.
The Brazilian forward was absent from the squad in last week’s match against Aston Villa, with the club initially reporting a “slight groin issue.” Following the team’s victory in Birmingham, Mikel Arteta revealed that Jesus required an MRI scan to fully assess the injury’s extent.
“Unfortunately, on Thursday at the end of the training session, he felt something in his groin. We needed to assess him with an MRI scan to see the extent, but he wasn’t available for the game,” Arteta explained.
Scan results indicate minor injury for Gabriel Jesus
The scan results indicated that Jesus’s injury is minor, and he is expected to be sidelined for just a few weeks. The upcoming international break, following the Brighton fixture, will reduce the number of matches Jesus is likely to miss.
Speaking to the media ahead of the Brighton game, Arteta provided an encouraging update: “He’s progressing really well. He had a muscle injury and is already doing quite a lot, so we expect him to be with us very soon.” However, the Arsenal manager confirmed that Jesus would not be available for the match against the Seagulls.
Mikel Merino to be sidelined for a couple of weeks
Jesus isn’t the only Arsenal player dealing with an injury. New signing Mikel Merino is also set to miss a few weeks after suffering a shoulder injury in training.
“It’s very unfortunate,” Arteta said about Merino’s injury. “Yesterday, he had a collision and injured his shoulder. He’s going to be out for a few weeks. It’s really bad luck, and we were all very excited. He was looking very good, but he landed on the floor, and Gabi went on top of him. It looks like he’s got a small fracture, probably. He was in a lot of pain, so we have to wait and see with the staff to do some more tests to have more conclusive answers.”
