Mikel Arteta has confirmed Thomas Partey suffered a muscle injury during Arsenal's 1-0 defeat at Aston Villa.
Partey, 27, limped off in the 74th minute and was seen clutching his hamstring as Willian was thrown on in search of an equaliser.
The midfielder - who joined from Atletico Madrid last summer for £45million - has been impressive when fit but has seen his minutes limited by injuries.
Partey suffered a thigh strain in December which ruled him out for nine matches and the sight of him hobbling off the pitch at Villa Park will raise concerns he is facing another spell on the sidelines.
Arteta confirmed the Ghana international has suffered a "muscular issue" as he assessed his side's performance during his post-match interview.
The Gunners boss added: "We had to take him off and he could not continue playing."
Arteta now awaits an update on the severity of the injury to find out if Partey can be involved in the Premier League clash with Leeds next Sunday.
Ollie Watkins' early strike was the difference in the Midlands and condemned Arsenal to back-to-back defeats, following their 2-1 loss to Wolves on Tuesday.
Arteta lamented the sloppy errors which cost his side against Dean Smith's Villa outfit, who moved to eighth in the table.
The Spaniard added: "We just gave them the ball, a moment you make a mistake and they punish you.
"You cannot win football matches if every week you do something like that. Four or five times we’ve played with 10 men. Against Wolves, we deserved to win both games by far but we lost both.
"[Red cards] cost us that game [against Wolves] - today other big decisions. Regardless of what the referee did today we should win the game comfortably."
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