During Arsenal's match against Stoke City, German defender Mustafi suffered a muscle tear during the match and had to leave the field. Arsene Wenger's face was evident, he was losing his best defender and all he needed to do now was wait for the analysis to come forth and determine how much playing time he will miss with the Gunners. After the victory against Stoke City, Wenger gave everyone an update on Mustafi's injury.
He said: "It's a bad one. He had nothing in midweek, [if he had] I would not have played him today. I had Hector Bellerin on the bench. I could have played [Rob] Holding or Gabriel. He wanted to play in Basel, because he said, 'no it’s nothing' and it was completely clear. I checked three times and there was no problem. I don't know why it happened, but it looks a 'good' hamstring strain. The minimum when you go out like that is 21 days. After that, today is December 10, so you are 21 days, that means he'll have a nice Christmas!"
He continued: "I have top quality on the bench – there’s not one player you can question. I must say it's typical in the Premier League. When you look at the teams we play against, even the mid-table teams, when you look at their bench, there's top quality on the bench. They had [Peter] Crouch coming on, who nearly punished us. It could have been the 2-2 on a header."
Photo credit: Arsenal FC