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Christos Tzolis injury decision quickly made as worrying Arsenal blow confirmed
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- Christos Tzolis injury decision quickly made as worrying Arsenal blow confirmed
Christos Tzolis will reportedly return to Arsenal for assessment on a suspected hamstring injury suffered while on international duty with Greece .
The winger was substituted after just 18 minutes of Thursday night's eventful 2-2 Nations League draw with the Netherlands at the Toumba Stadium in Thessaloniki, having received treatment on the pitch with his shirt over his face in more worrying scenes for Gunners boss Mikel Arteta.
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The injury came shortly after Tzolis had got the better of Arsenal team-mate Jurrien Timber and fired home what he thought was the opening goal for Greece, only to see it be disallowed for offside against Vangelis Pavlidis.
Sport24 in Greece , along with Greek journalist Dimitris Manakos , now report that the £34million summer signing from Club Brugge will make a swift early return to north London, missing Sunday's clash with Germany in Group A2 as a result.
Tzolis tried to carry on following his injury, with Greece head coach Ivan Jovanovic appearing to confirm that the player initially refused to come off before eventually making way for Giorgos Masouras.
"How can I handle it, you tell me," Jovanovic said, per Sport24 . "I'm his coach, I tell him to come out and he says, 'I'm not coming out'.
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"How can I handle it? So, this is something that can characterise the Greek and all these kids who come to play for the national team regardless of age.
Injury scare: Christos Tzolis is a key player for both Arsenal and Greece (AFP/Getty)
"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. We don't know how much damage was done today, but I hoped it was just a twitch, something temporary.
"I didn't have any reason to be honest, because these aren't qualifiers, they're the Nations League, first and foremost I wanted to protect the player. He didn't want to stay near me to go out, instead he went to defend in the corner. And then he went out. These are our players."
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Asked if it was on advice from Greece's medical staff or his own feeling to withdraw Tzolis, Jovanovic was quoted as saying: "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.
"So when a doctor considers that this thing, as he and Christos understand it, is something that is not for the player to continue playing. Certainly first as a coach I have to take the decision to replace the player, because it was a muscular issue.
"It wasn't a problem, like an ankle or something else. But 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 is the latest Arsenal player to receive an injury scare during this extended three-week international window, with Martin Odegaard having shaken off an ankle issue to start and play the full 90 minutes for Norway in their surprise 2-1 defeat by Wales in Cardiff on Thursday night.
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Ezri Konsa was an unused substitute for England's 2-0 win in the Czech Republic on Tuesday due to a knock picked up against Spain at Wembley, while Kai Havertz suffered a hamstring injury playing for Germany against the Netherlands last week.
Declan Rice was among the withdrawals from the England squad at the start of the break, while Ben White was unavailable for international selection due to injury, along with Piero Hincapie and Cristhian Mosquera. William Saliba remains a long-term absentee.
