Arsenal have been dealt a body blow in their ongoing 2014 English Premier League campaign, as star playmaker Mesut Ozil has been ruled out for a 12 week period owing to a knee injury.
Ozil suffered a partial knee ligament tear during Arsenal's 2-0 Premier League loss to Chelsea on Sunday and his injury may well hamper Arsenal's chances of getting a grip on the title race.
Though Ozil played through the pain barrier and completed the full 90 minutes at Stamford Bridge, still it was only later that the extent of the injury was known.
The seriousness of the injury came to light during Ozil's committments for Germany at Frankfurt for the upcoming Euro 2016 qualifiers against Poland and the Republic of Ireland, and was tweeted by the German Football Association (DFB).
Though Arsenal had notified the DFB well in advance about Ozil's injury, still the manner in which it was brought to light has upset authorities at the London club.
"It is too early to say how long Ozil may be out of action," said a club statement.
Arsenal confirmed that Ozil will return to London to be treated by club doctors and also statd that they were looking to get him fit as fast as possible.
Ozil's injury was confirmed when the playmaker was sent for a scan in Munich after he complained of problems.
"Ozil complained about pain in his left knee when he arrived in Frankfurt on Tuesday," said DFB’s head of communications, Jens Grittner.
Ozil had also injured his hamstring in a Champions League knockout tie against Bayern Munich in 2013 and was sidelind for six weeks on that occassion.
Ozil's absence compounds a list of absentees for Arsenal, who have also lost Olivier Giroud,Mathieu Debuchy,Aaron Ramsey,Theo Walcott, Serge Gnabry, Yaya Sanogo, Mikel Arteta and Abou Diaby due to injury reasons.
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