Arsenal suffer injury blow with Kai Havertz set for spell on sidelines 

Kai Havertz is set for a spell on the sidelines after suffering a knee injury

Kai Havertz has been ruled out for the immediate future with a knee injury.

Arsenal's bad luck with strikers' fitness forced Mikel Arteta into using makeshift forwards last season after Kai Havertz was ruled out for six months - and is now set to be sidelined once again. 

The blow means Arsenal are now set to return to the transfer market to seek out a new backup option.

The Gunners are now believed to be focusing once again on this summer's transfer market in a bid to bolster attacking options in the German's absence.

Havertz failed to appear at the club's annual open training session at the Emirates on Wednesday morning.

Medical staff are assessing the injury - but there is no timeline for the 26-year-old's recovery, after missing six months of last season with a serious hamstring issue. 

Mikel Arteta used Havertz as a substitute during the Gunners 1-0 win at Manchester United on Sunday, coming on for £63.5m summer signing Viktor Gyokeres - with the same switch made during the Emirates Cup victory a week earlier against Athletic Bilbao, when Havertz grabbed Arsenal's third goal.