Mikel Arteta now explains why Takehiro Tomiyasu was taken off during Arsenal win

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Arsenal secured a strong 2-1 victory over Wolves yesterday, but there were some nerves amongst the Emirates crowd as Takehiro Tomiyasu was withdrawn.

The defender was unable to continue after going down in the second half, and Ben White came on as a substitute to replace him.

Tomiyasu has been outstanding in recent weeks, hence his inclusion in the starting XI over White, and losing him to injury now would be a disaster for Mikel Arteta.

Mikel Arteta gives Tomiyasu injury update

Speaking after the game, Arteta hinted that Tomiyasu’s withdrawal was mainly due to fatigue rather than a specific injury.

“I don’t know, he felt something, I don’t know if it was fatigue, we decided to change straight away with him, we didn’t want to take any risk. Let’s assess how he is,” he stated when asked about his injury.

Tomiyasu was excellent yet again as he provided the assist for Bukayo Saka’s opening goal, meaning that at that point, he had notched up three assists in his last 52 minutes of football.

The defender was arguably the best player on the pitch in the 6-0 victory over RC Lens in the Champions League, and is in negotiations over a new contract at the club.

Tomiaysu’s injury record at Arsenal

Perhaps the only major concern over Tomiyasu is his injury record, which has seen him miss a number of games since his arrival in 2021.

In his first season, he missed 11 games during the run-in with a calf injury, as Arsenal fell short in the race for a top-four spot.

Last season, he and William Saliba picked up season-ending injuries against Sporting CP in the Europa League, which then saw Arsenal fall short in the title race, and Tomiyasu missed 16 games as a result.

He is one of the most injury-prone players in the squad, and given how useful he is, there may always be fears over him that he will continue to pick up knocks like the one yesterday.

Arteta will hope that Tomiyasu is available, as his versatility makes him an option across the back line, and given that Oleksandr Zinchenko looked suspect defensively against Wolves, Tomiyasu may be preferred on the left for tough games against Aston Villa and Liverpool within the next few weeks.

Ben White is now back from his own injury, so resting Tomiyasu for Tuesday’s trip to Luton may be a decision which comes under consideration.