Arsenal hopeful over major injury boost for Atletico Madrid semi-final decider | OneFootball

Gunners star who has been a ‘huge miss’ is ‘pushing every boundary’ to be back for Champions League second leg

The German missed the 1-1 first-leg draw in Spain on Wednesday night due to a muscle injury he picked up last weekend against Newcastle in the Premier League.

It is the latest in a long line of injury issues that Havertz has had to battle this season. He missed the first half of the campaign after undergoing knee surgery and then suffered a further setback due to a hamstring problem.

Arsenal produced one of their best performances in weeks when Havertz led the attack away at Manchester City but keeping him fit has been difficult.

Havertz has been ruled out of Arsenal's match at home to Fulham on Saturday evening but there is optimism that he could feature against Atletico next week.

“Now the focus has to be on availability and performance,” Arteta said ahead of Fulham's visit to the Emirates Stadium.

“Kai is desperate to be on the pitch as quick as possible. He cannot do this game, but hopefully for Atletico he will be available. He's pushing every boundary to achieve that.”

Setback: Kai Havertz suffered a muscle injury in Arsenal’s nervy win over Newcastle

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Havertz will enter the final two years of his contract at Arsenal this summer but Arteta says it is not the right moment for talks over a new deal.

“There is no time to have these kind of discussions now,” Arteta said.

Havertz has started only six Premier League matches for Arsenal so far this season and just one in the Champions League.

The 2-1 defeat by City at the Etihad Stadium a fortnight ago is the only game in which Havertz has played the full 90 minutes all season.

“He's been a huge miss,” Arteta said. “We're talking about one of the most important attacking players that we have.

“He's been out for seven or eight months. He's not been the only one unfortunately with long-term injuries and players that we've missed.

“The team has shown an incredible capacity to overcome these kind of scenarios and still be very, very competitive.”