A big blow for Mikel Arteta

Arsenal’s hopes of finishing the season with silverware have suffered a significant setback after midfielder Eberechi Eze was ruled out for at least four weeks with a calf injury sustained in the Champions League victory over Bayer Leverkusen. Manager Mikel Arteta confirmed that subsequent scans have shown the 25-year-old will be sidelined for up to six weeks, a timeframe that could see him miss the remainder of the Premier League campaign and England’s final World Cup audition window.

The timing is particularly cruel. Eze was forced to withdraw from Gareth Southgate’s latest squad, effectively ending his chances of forcing his way into this summer’s World Cup party, while Arsenal enter a defining April without one of their most influential attackers. With the Premier League season concluding on 24 May, a six-week lay-off would keep Eze out until the middle of that month, leaving only the final two league fixtures and a prospective Champions League final on 10 June for a possible return.

Arsenal’s schedule offers no respite. A trip to Southampton in the FA Cup quarter-finals kicks off a run that includes a league visit to Bournemouth, the two-legged Champions League quarter-final against Sporting CP and, crucially, a title-shaping showdown with Manchester City at the Etihad on 19 April. Eze’s absence robs Arteta of a player who has the capacity to unlock compact defences and relieve pressure in high-stakes encounters. Even the season’s penultimate home match against Newcastle United on 27 April appears beyond his recovery window.

Should Arsenal navigate their way to the FA Cup final on 16 May, Eze would face a race against time to prove his fitness, while a Champions League final appearance 14 days later falls more comfortably within his projected return date. For now, the Gunners must regroup without a key creative hub, knowing that dropped points in any of the looming fixtures could hand the initiative to City in a title race that looks destined to go the distance.

Arteta’s squad still has depth, but the loss of Eze’s direct running and eye for a decisive pass is a psychological as well as tactical blow as the club attempts to respond to the Carabao Cup final defeat that ended their quadruple dream. The next month will reveal whether Arsenal can absorb this latest setback and keep their twin cup ambitions alive, or whether the calf injury that looked innocuous in the moment becomes the moment the season slipped away.