Arsenal star suffered a knee injury while ‘walking out of the shower,’ according to Arsenal’s doctor. The player has been plagued by injuries since joining from Celtic three years ago, and his most recent setback occurred in unusual circumstances last season.
Tierney’s knee problem became apparent last season when he felt it collapse while getting out of the shower after an Arsenal training session.
Tierney missed the Gunners’ final ten games of the season after suffering knee pain in April. Since joining the club from Celtic in a £25 million transfer in July 2019, the Scottish full-back has struggled with injuries.
In Arsenal’s 2-1 win over Wolves on February 24, the 25-year-old injured his knee cartilage but did not notice it. He played four more games for Mikel Arteta’s side, as well as two friendlies for Scotland, before the problem arose in an unusual setting.
“The Wolves game, he had a hyper-extension injury, finished the game, didn’t mention it and then played the next five games with no problems whatsoever,” Arsenal doctor Gary O’Driscoll said in the penultimate episode of Prime Video series Arsenal: All Or Nothing . “But he then walked out of the shower on Thursday after training, turned a corner, bent his knee and felt the knee collapse.”
Tierney has previously explained how an innocuous moment against Wolves turned into surgery and a 12-week absence. He was unable to play for Arsenal, who missed out on a top-four place in the Premier League, or feature for Scotland during their efforts to qualify for the World Cup, which ended in a defeat by Ukraine in a play-off in June.
“I carried on playing for Arsenal, then reported for Scotland duty [in March] and played twice with no problems. I came back completely fine. Then I was doing some leg exercises in the gym and my left knee clicked,” Tierney told The Sun.
“I instinctively felt it wasn’t right and that I should probably go for a scan. I wasn’t in any great pain. I’d played for Arsenal and we’d been winning, then for Scotland I got a goal and an assist. So there had been nothing to worry about after that Wolves match.
“But the scan result came back and suddenly I’m needing an op. It was so unfortunate. But after that click I just knew it wasn’t normal. The verdict was 12 weeks, and it was gutting when I realised the games I’d miss for Arsenal and Scotland. However, there was nothing I could do about it.”
According to Transfermarkt, Tierney has missed 48 games for Arsenal due to injury. Last season, Nuno Tavares and Granit Xhaka filled in at left-back for him, but this season, Oleksandr Zinchenko has taken his place.
Tierney has been used sparingly by Arteta this season, appearing as a substitute in the 2-0 win over Crystal Palace and the 4-2 victory over Leicester City.
He could make his debut when Arsenal travel to the south coast to face Bournemouth on Saturday, hoping to make it three wins in a row.
