Mikel Arteta expects Fabio Vieira to be out for ‘weeks’ with injury

Mikel Arteta has confirmed that Fabio Vieira has picked up an injury that’ll require surgery and the midfielder is expected to be out for “weeks” as a result.

Arsenal have suffered on the injury front at the start of 2023/24, although they are getting healthier. Martin Odegaard and Gabriel Jesus returned to the starting XI at the weekend against Brentford.

Jurrien Timber remains a long-term absentee, while Thomas Partey and Emile Smith Rowe should return in January. Vieira has now joined the injury list and, like the aforementioned names, he may not feature again until 2024.

Mikel Arteta expects Fabio Vieira to be out for ‘weeks’ with injury

Vieira’s Arsenal career is yet to ignite despite signs of promise. After a subdued debut season in which he failed to break into Arteta’s favoured starting XI, the slight Portuguese creator has racked up just 507 minutes in 14 appearances across all competitions so far this season.

His only goal arrived from the penalty spot in the 5-0 thrashing of Sheffield United.

The former Porto star is yet to convince many of the Gunners fanbase, and his stock took a hit before the November break when he was sent off in the 3-1 victory over Burnley. He served the first of his three-game suspension against Brentford on Saturday, but he’s now set for a period on the sidelines due to a groin injury.

Speaking about Vieira ahead of Wednesday’s game with Lens, Arteta told reporters: “We’ve got a problem with him. He’s been having some discomfort. He wasn’t improving and we sent him to a specialist, the advice was to have an operation which we did yesterday. We expect him to be out for weeks now.”

While Vieira is yet to play a major role for the club, his absence will hurt Arsenal from a depth perspective as they head into the busiest period of the campaign.

Ben White was also absent from training on Tuesday, so his situation will be one to monitor as well.