Arsenal crashed out of the Europa League last night and also lost two players to injuries – William Saliba and Takehiro Tomiyasu.
The Gunners took the lead in the 19th minute and it looked like that was going to be enough to progress to the quarter-final. However, Sporting battered us at the start of the second half and levelled the game with an outrageous goal.
Goalkeeper Antonio Adan came to the Portuguese giants’ rescue on multiple occasions and took the game to penalties. Gabriel Martinelli’s strike was saved and that knocked us out of the competition. Now, the injuries to Saliba and Tomiyasu are a huge worry.
Why Pele Is Overrated.
Takehiro Tomiyasu spotted wearing crutches after Arsenal lost to Sporting Lisbon
Arsenal didn’t start the game well yesterday and things went from bad to worse after Tomiyasu hurt himself.
The Japan international slipped and his leg overextended in a very uncomfortable way. He was in serious pain and was immediately substituted. Mikel Arteta replaced him with Ben White.
Just a few moments later, Saliba went down with an injury and he too hobbled off. Rob Holding came on for him, and even though their absence didn’t have too much of an impact on the result, every fans’ thoughts were with them.
Arteta didn’t have any update on what had happened to Saliba, but he said in his press conference after the game that Tomiyasu’s injury looked ‘pretty serious’.
The Japan international was spotted leaving the Emirates Stadium in crutches, which is not a good sign at all.
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Our Europa League exit means we only have the Premier League to focus on now, and as bad as it is to say it out loud, last night’s result may well prove to be a blessing in disguise.
Arsenal will now play fewer games than Manchester City from now until the end of the season. Our players will have more time to rest and recover as well, which could give us an edge.
However, Tomiyasu’s injury now means White has to play every single minute of every game. That’s not ideal at all, especially if Saliba is also out for a while.
Hopefully, it’s nothing serious and both players will be back very soon.
