Southampton have suffered a major injury blow ahead of Arsenal's visit to St Mary's on Sunday. Saints defender Kyle Walker-Peters will miss the clash with the Gunners due to a hamstring injury.
The former Tottenham full-back limped off in Southampton's 1-0 win over AFC Bournemouth on Tuesday, but his injury is worse than first feared. The England international will miss the game against Mikel Arteta's side in what is set to be a lengthy spells on the sidelines.
"We have another big injury, Kyle Walker-Peters is a long time out," said Saints boss Ralph Hasenhuttl, via HampshireLive. "Hamstring injury. We will see how long. There's a lot of blood so we don't know yet. It was a long step he made to the ball and this was the moment the injury came."
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Walker-Peters' absence isn't the only bit of bad injury news for the Saints. Germany international Armel Bella-Kotchap has impressed for Southampton so far this season, but will miss the Arsenal clash with a shoulder problem. In addition to that, Chelsea-linked midfielder Romeo Lavia is unlikely to feature having only just returned to first-team training following a hamstring injury that has kept him out for nearly two months.
"Bella-Kotchap is still out for a little bit," said Hasenhuttl. "Romeo is back in training, after such a long time it will take time for him to be match fit."
Southampton will also be without Arsenal loanee Ainsley Maitland-Niles, who is ineligible to face his parent club. Arsenal will be hoping to stretch their winning run to nine matches across all competitions - and they will be heavy favourites to take advantage of a threadbare Saints side without key personnel.
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