Lucas Torreira out indefinitely with fractured ankle

Lucas Torreira has a fractured ankle, and Arsenal are “awaiting further specialist reviews which will determine recovery plan,” according to the latest team news posted to Arsenal.com. The defensive midfielder was stretchered off the pitch in the Gunners FA Cup win over Portsmouth earlier this week after being the victim of a particularly nasty challenge from James Bolton. Early reports from the stadium suggested that the injury wasn’t as serious as feared, but clearly, those reports were premature.

It’s really difficult for me not to be livid about the tackle from Bolton and the no-call from Mike Dean, who is bad at his job. You know, I might just refer to him that way from here on out on all TSF platforms, “Mike Dean, who is bad at his job.” The one thing I’ll give him is that he keeps finding novel ways to stink it up, like booking Matteo Guendouzi for sarcasm.

Look at that picture again: the defender’s front foot is well off the ground and the studs are raised. He’s basically coming in from behind Torreira, but if you wanted to be generous you could say he’s coming in from the side-back. What you don’t see from the still is after the front leg comes, makes contact with Torreira, and knocks the ball away, the back leg scissors through and completely takes the Arsenal man out. It was a brutal tackle.

I don’t know how football has gotten here, but it has reached a point where if you “get the ball,” you can get away with pretty much anything. It’s wrong. If you take a guy out, you take a guy out. It’s a foul every time, and it isn’t called that way. There’s a reason they call scissoring tackles leg-breakers — they can break people’s legs. Case in point, this scissoring tackle broke Lucas Torreira’s ankle.

In Torreira’s absence, expect an uptick in playing time for Matteo Guendouzi and Dani Ceballos. It shouldn’t affect Granit Xhaka’s playing time, if only because he’s already become a mainstay in Mikel Arteta’s lineup.

Get better soon, Lucas.