Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has confirmed that Thomas Partey will miss the 'next few matches' after picking up an injury in the north London derby.
The deadline day addition had been absent for nearly a month with a thigh problem before making his return during Arsenal's 2-0 loss to Tottenham on Sunday.
However, Partey lasted just 45 minutes at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and was replaced just before half time after sustaining another, slightly different injury.
"He got injured in the same area, but not in exactly the same spot as before," Arteta said [via Sky Sports News]. "He had an MRI yesterday, there is an injury there, he will miss the next few matches."
Despite lasting just 45 minutes upon his return to action, Arteta insisted it was not a risk to rush Partey back from injury and throw him straight into the blood and thunder of a north London derby.
"No, he did incredibly well, he was confident," the Arsenal manager added. "We tested him three times and he had no symptoms.
"But in football you have a lot of unpredictable actions. He went into the floor, his knee got stuck, after he needs to stretch and get up up. Immediately he put a lot of stress in a similar area and he felt it again."
Partey has featured six times for the Gunners since signing from Atletico Madrid on the final day of the 2020 transfer window, but has been on the losing side on four of those occasions.
The 27-year-old could be absent for a particularly busy run of games for the Gunners. Arsenal have five matches in the space of 12 days in the build up to Christmas, starting with Dundalk in the Europa League on Thursday and concluding with a Carabao Cup quarter final against Manchester City on 22 December.
Source : 90min