Mikel Arteta provides Takehiro Tomiyasu injury update after Arsenal defender misses dominant win over West Ham

The defender has returned from the Asian Cup but was involved in the trip to east London
Takehiro Tomiyasu picked up a niggle while on international duty
Arsenal FC via Getty Images
Dom Smith11 February 2024

Mikel Arteta says an injury “niggle” is the reason Takehiro Tomiyasu missed Arsenal’s 6-0 thrashing of West Ham on Sunday.

Tomiyasu has not featured for Arsenal since their 2-1 defeat to Fulham on New Year’s Eve, after representing Japan at the Asian Cup in Qatar.

The versatile defender played in all but one of Japan’s matches as they reached the quarter-finals of the tournament in Qatar, but a minor injury prevented him from making his Arsenal return at the London Stadium.

Asked why Tomiyasu was missing, Arteta replied: “He had a niggle when he came with the national team. It was not the moment to risk him after how many minutes he has played.”

The 25-year-old has made 73 appearances for Arsenal since his 2021 move from Serie A side Bologna.

The Gunners were ruthless in Tomiyasu’s place, scoring six unanswered goals and earning a win which moved them level on 52 points with second-place Manchester City and only two points behind leaders Liverpool.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in