Arsenal Face Fresh Injury Concern as Tzolis Suffers Knock on International Duty

Arsenal winger Christos Tzolis is the latest Premier League player to pick up a knock on international duty, and he reportedly refused to come off at first when his coach tried to take him off.

Tzolis lasted only 18 minutes of Greece's 2-2 Nations League draw with the Netherlands in Thessaloniki on Thursday. He went down holding his leg, needed treatment on the pitch and covered his face with his shirt. After the physios worked on him he seemed to move fine and wanted to carry on, which led to an awkward moment with his manager.

Greece coach Ivan Jovanovic said he tried to pull Tzolis off straight away, but the player said no. "How can I handle it, you tell me," Jovanovic told Sport24. "I'm his coach, I tell him to come out and he says, 'I'm not coming out'. I think it was a scene that everyone saw, those who were nearby. I told him to get out, because I suspected that he wouldn't have done that if he hadn't felt something."

Jovanovic said he did not act alone. "A coach's decisions regarding substitutions and the suspected injury of a player, he does not make decisions without a medical opinion. We have doctors, and very good ones at that," he said. "Certainly first as a coach I have to take the decision to replace the player, because it was a muscular issue. When it's muscular issues, that, along with the doctors, with the immediate information I have, was the reason I asked for it to come out immediately."

Tzolis did eventually give in. He first dropped back to defend a corner, then walked to the bench. Jovanovic is hopeful it is not serious. "We don't know how much damage was done today, but I hoped it was just a twitch, something temporary," he said.

Mikel Arteta sweating on his fitness ahead of the Premier League's return

The winger is expected to miss Greece's next Nations League game against Germany this weekend and will likely have more checks to see how bad the muscle problem is. That leaves Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta waiting on news before the Premier League returns.

It is not the only worry for the Gunners this break. Kai Havertz also picked up a knock against the Netherlands. Captain Martin Odegaard took a heavy tackle from Bernardo Silva in the game against Portugal, but he shook it off and was passed fit to play Norway on Thursday night.