‘Out for weeks’ - Arsenal confirm fresh injury blow as £90m trio ruled out v Newcastle United

Arsenal have been handed another injury blow ahead of Saturday evening’s Premier League clash against Newcastle United (kick-off 5:30pm).

Having already ruled out Gabriel Jesus and Thomas Partey for the trip to St James’ Park, Gunners boss Mikel Arteta has confirmed Emile Smith-Rowe is facing weeks on the sidelines.

The 23-year-old was expected to start last night’s 3-1 Carabao Cup defeat at West Ham United, where Arteta made five changes. Smith-Rowe has made eight appearances this season.

“He’s got an injury in his knee and he’s going to be out for weeks,” said Arteta after the game.

Prior to the cup exit at the London Stadium, Arteta also ruled £90million-rated duo Jesus and Partey out of the visit to Tyneside.

Jesus missed his side’s 5-0 win over Sheffield United, where Eddie Nketiah scored a hat-trick, last Saturday after picking up a hamstring injury in Sevilla.

“With him, I’m honestly not going to put any because I did it once and got it totally wrong,” said Arteta, who was speaking ahead of the cup clash against West Ham United.

“We need to be cautious because we need to treat it in the right way. He’s already pushing everybody and wants to be back as quickly as possible, and we need him, so that’s great.

Partey, meanwhile, has featured just once since August because of a muscle injury.

“I think he will be out for weeks - I don’t know how long but he’s got another appointment today and we will see more after that,” Arteta added.

“It is a big concern because when Thomas is fit and available and he’s been part of the team, we’ve seen the results and the impact that he had.

“This season we have more protection especially for that reason because we know in the last two seasons what has happened and the result it had on the team. We had to address that and now it has happened.

“It can happen in football and I’m so sorry for him because I think he is doing every single thing he can do right to be there. He was gutted and we are for him, but he needs to lift himself up again with our support and go again because he’s a player that is critical for us.”

Newcastle are expected to be without nine first-team players, including Sandro Tonali, Alexander Isak, Jacob Murphy, Elliot Anderson, Sven Botman, Harvey Barnes, Javier Manquillo and Matt Targett.