Mikel Arteta has hinted that Gabriel Jesus' knee injury could accelerate Arsenal's search for an attacking player in the January transfer window.
The 27-year-old went off on a stretcher in the first half of Arsenal's FA Cup third round defeat to Manchester United on Sunday.
The suspected cruciate ligament tear, which will keep Jesus sidelined for months, is not the attacker's first serious knee injury at the club.
Jesus underwent knee surgery in December 2022, ruling him out of Brazil's World Cup campaign. He was out for 99 days.
Since then, the Brazilian has had follow-up procedures that forced him to miss even more games. His expected long-term absence is in addition to that of Bukayo Saka, who is recovering from a hamstring injury.
When asked about the hole left in the squad by Jesus and Saka ahead of Arsenal's north London derby against Tottenham today, Arteta said: 'Obviously we have two very creative, very important and very unpredictable players ahead of us lose, so that has an impact on the team.
'From the start of the period and before the period we have been actively looking at what we can do to plan and improve the team, to influence the team, if we can.
“Of course the news from Gabi, that also takes the scenario to another dimension, because the time frame will be longer.”
His prognosis for Jesus' wounding was bleak.
“It doesn't look good at all,” he said.
'We still have to assess a specialist, so we will probably know more information this afternoon.
“I don't want to confirm anything until we get the final report this afternoon. But we were very worried after the game, and we are today too.”
Meanwhile, Arteta has criticized social media trolls who sent sickening insults to Kai Havertz's wife and called on the football industry to make it 'banned'.
Havertz missed a penalty in Sunday's defeat to Man United before his pregnant wife Sophia reposted two disgusting messages she had received on Instagram.
Arsenal has reported the abuse to the police and is working with specialist data company Signify to identify the perpetrators.
Arteta added: “It's unbelievable, to be honest. We really need to do something about it, because accepting that and hiding it has terrible consequences.
'It's something we need to remove from the game because it's so cynical and dependent on the outcome of an action.
'That is a very serious matter. It affects me. It affects him and everyone involved in the industry.
'We pay a lot of attention to technology and what's next in football. The next thing in football is that this should be banned. It can't happen. That's all.'
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