Arsenal suffer fresh injury blow as key player withdraws from international squad

Arsenal star Kai Havertz has been withdrawn from the Germany squad for the upcoming international break.

Havertz played the full 90 minutes of the Gunners' 3-1 win over Southampton on Saturday.

He scored in his fourth consecutive game in all competitions for Mikel Arteta's side, and now has four goals to his name in this season's Premier League.

The Gunners have been hit by injuries in recent weeks, with Martin Odegaard, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Takehiro Tomiyasu among those to suffer from issues.

Now, Havertz has become the latest player to cause concern to Arteta ahead of a busy post-international break run of fixtures.

The German FA have announced that the forward has withdrawn from their squad due to a knee injury.

And in potentially further worrying news for Arsenal, no timescale has been put on his recovery.

Some fans have speculated whether the withdrawal could be a precautionary measure from the Gunners, given that Havertz did complete 90 minutes on Saturday.

He has, in fact, played the full 90 minutes in every one of Arsenal's games this term, except a 29-minute cameo appearance in the 5-1 EFL Cup win over Bolton.

Arsenal's Kai Havertz celebrates after scoring against PSG - Getty

Arsenal medical staff are set to assess Havertz in the coming days to determine the extent of his knee injury.

A German FA statement reads: "Kai Havertz will miss the upcoming international matches against Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Netherlands due to knee problems.

"Get well soon, Kai!"

Should Arsenal have to do without the German forward for any length of time, Arteta does have options to replace him.

His most likely replacement would be Leandro Trossard, with Gabriel Jesus another option.

Gabriel Martinelli, meanwhile, has also played through the middle in the past, and has occasionally been deployed as a striker while playing for the Brazil national team.