Mikel Arteta confirms Noni Madueke injury severity in latest Arsenal blow | OneFootball

Arsenal will be without winger Noni Madueke “for a few weeks” after suffering a knee injury in the 1-1 draw against Manchester City on Sunday.

Madueke, who has made a bright start to his Arsenal career since arriving from Chelsea, was replaced by Bukayo Saka at half time and underwent scans on Monday.

Mikel Arteta, who did not specify the nature of Madueke’s injury following the City game, provided a further update ahead of Arsenal’s trip to Port Vale in the Carabao Cup, confirming the Englishman will be sidelined for a period but that “it doesn’t look too bad”.

"It looks like he will be out for a few weeks,” Arteta said. “It looks like we will have to scan him again next week. He felt something in the beginning of the match, at half-time it was too sore.”

When asked if he’s expecting the injury timeline to be weeks rather than months, he added: "We hope so. We have to scan him again, it doesn't look too bad.

"He was gutted, disappointed because he was in such a good state. He was getting consistency and flow and was looking like a big threat."

Madueke’s injury adds to the absence of Kai Havertz, who picked up a knee injury in the season opener against Manchester United and is expected to remain out for “months”, while captain Martin Odegaard missed the draw against City due to a shoulder injury, which Arteta believes he will be recovered from in “a matter of days”.

Arteta also revealed summer signing Piero Hincapie has suffered a “little groin injury” but one that the Spaniard will be a “short-term” issue.

"We've looked at everything,” Arteta said when asked why Arsenal have had so many early-season injuries.

“The one with Noni (Madueke) is bad luck, an unfortunate incident. The one with Kai (Havertz) is similar. Ben White was similar. Martin (Odegaard) was similar, he injured his shooulder twice with the same action on the floor.

Noni Madueke’s absence is Arsenal’s latest injury blow (Getty)

"With Bukayo (Saka), it's more of a muscular injury so maybe that's one to look at more in-depth. We try to keep injuries as low as possible."

Saka returned from a hamstring injury to replace Madueke against City and could be in line to start in Sunday’s trip to Newcastle United in the Premier League - although the Gunners will need to be careful with his fitness.

Madueke, however, is set to miss Champions League games against Olympiacos and Atletico Madrid, with Arsenal also facing matches against West Ham, Fulham and Crystal Palace in the Premier League.

The winger is also likely to miss the next England camp after impressing under Thomas Tuchel and scoring in the 5-0 win over Serbia in World Cup qualifying earlier this month.