Report reveals how long Arsenal will miss injured Christos Tzolis after hamstring blow
A fresh update from Greece has revealed how long Arsenal are likely to be without attacker Christos Tzolis for, after he suffered a hamstring injury on international duty.
The exciting winger, who was signed in a £34million deal from Club Brugge back in July, was forced off after 18 minutes of Greece’s 2-2 draw with the Netherlands in their Nations League clash in Thessaloniki on Thursday evening.
Tzolis has since withdrawn from the Greece camp and is due to travel back to London on Saturday, ahead of his country’s clash with Germany on Sunday.
The 24-year-old underwent an initial scan on Friday, and sources close to Greece’s national side have indicated to Metro that Tzolis will be out of action for approximately two to three weeks.
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Arsenal are now expected to conduct further tests to discover the full extent of Tzolis’ hamstring injury.
If Tzolis is sidelined for up to three weeks, he will miss the Premier League clashes with Leeds United and Nottingham Forest, along with Champions League games against Lille and Bayern Munich.
He could potentially return for the home league clash with Everton at Emirates Stadium on October 24.
Tzolis has made a strong start to life in north London, registering two assists in seven appearances for Arsenal in all competitions, and will be missed by Mikel Arteta.
Tzolis refuses to come off in Greece draw
However, it appears that Tzolis may have done more damage to his hamstring by refusing to come off against the Netherlands.
Indeed, manager Ivan Jovanovic has revealed he had to tell the Arsenal winger to come off as he wasn’t going to do so himself, despite knowing he’d picked up an injury.
The Greece boss said: “How do I handle it? You tell me? I’m his coach, I tell him to go out and he says ‘I’m not going out’.
“How do I handle it? So, this is something that I characterise as the Greek mentality and all these kids who come to play in the national team regardless of age. I think it was a scene that everyone saw, those who were close.
“I told him to get out, because I suspected that he wouldn’t have done that if he hadn’t felt something. We don’t know how big the damage is today, but I hoped it was just a twitch, something temporary.
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“I didn’t have any reason to be honest, because these aren’t qualifiers, they’re the Nations League. First and foremost I wanted to protect the player.
“He didn’t want to stay near me to go out. Instead, he went to defend the corner. And then he went out. These are our players.”
