Arsenal’s Premier League opener against Coventry City has taken a significant turn after Frank Lampard confirmed Haji Wright could miss up to 12 weeks with a serious quadriceps injury.
Wright will definitely miss Friday night’s trip to the Emirates after suffering the problem during pre-season.
The USA international scored 17 Championship goals last season as Coventry secured promotion, making his absence one of the biggest pieces of team news before Arsenal begin their title defence.
Haji Wright ruled out of Arsenal vs Coventry
Lampard confirmed that Wright has suffered what he described as a serious quad injury and will be unavailable for a number of weeks.
The Coventry manager admitted the striker could potentially be sidelined for as long as 12 weeks.
That removes the Sky Blues’ leading league scorer from their first Premier League fixture in 25 years.
Wright produced his best goalscoring campaign for Coventry last season and has scored 49 times since joining the club from Antalyaspor.
His absence does not mean Arsenal can expect Coventry to arrive without attacking threat.
Lampard’s side have strengthened heavily since winning promotion and recently added Taiwo Awoniyi and Sidiki Cherif to their forward options.
Those additions suddenly become even more important.
Instead of preparing primarily for the striker who spearheaded Coventry’s promotion campaign, Arsenal could now encounter a substantially different attacking setup involving players who have had considerably less time to develop relationships within Lampard’s team.
Mikel Arteta also has selection issues of his own.
ReadArsenal reported earlier on Wednesday that Declan Rice may not start against Coventry as Arsenal manage his workload following a demanding 69-game campaign.
William Saliba and Jurriën Timber have also been dealing with fitness problems.
Friday therefore remains far from straightforward.
But losing a striker responsible for 17 league goals last season changes Coventry’s attacking picture considerably before they face the Premier League champions.
Arsenal will now have to prepare for a different threat.
Comments.
Loading comments…