Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta revealed that Christian Nørgaard missed Sunday’s narrow victory over Manchester United through injury, although played down the severity of a “little issue.”
The former Brentford captain is one of six new recruits made by the Gunners this summer. Fellow fresh arrivals Viktor Gyökeres and Martín Zubimendi started against United, while Noni Madueke came off a substitutes bench which included Cristhian Mosquera and Kepa Arrizabalaga.
Nørgaard had been available for the club’s final friendly of pre-season the week prior, but was not part of the travelling party which somehow smuggled three points away from Old Trafford.
“He had a little issue the medical staff will address,” Arteta reluctantly revealed post-game. “He wasn’t able to play today.”
The Denmark international has a free week to work his way back to full fitness for Arsenal’s first home game of the season against Leeds United on Saturday.
Nørgaard was not brought in to strengthen the club’s first XI. Instead, the savvy Premier League operator was snapped up for a modest £10 million ($13.5 million) to serve as backup to Zubimendi at the base of midfield. If not quite a baptism of fire, Arsenal’s new Spanish midfielder certainly felt the heat in a feisty introduction to Premier League football.
A rough clout across the chin from Bryan Mbeumo’s forearm set the tone for a bruising debut. Zubimendi lost half of his duels and didn’t win a single foul while getting penalised twice. There were flashes of his ability in possession—no player could top his tally of line-breaking passes during the first half—but Martin Ødegaard still felt compelled to drop deep to help his namesake build up from the back.
This lack of lubrication was evident in a disjointed display. Arsenal were unusually eager to play long on Sunday. Almost 17% of the passes attempted by the entire team travelled at least 30 yards—the club’s highest ratio in a Premier League fixture since playing Manchester City with 10 men for 45 minutes 11 months ago.
Arteta insisted that all of the club’s debutants were “very good” before adding: “Some are still not at the highest level that they need to get to but we will get there.”
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Mikel Arteta Reveals Injury Concern for New Arsenal Signing.
