Arsenal’s Mesut Özil unlikely to play again until 2015 after knee injury

Mesut Özil is not expected to play again this year after confirmation he has torn ligaments in his left knee. Photograph: Kieran McManus/BPI/Rex

Mesut Özil has been ruled out for between 10 and 12 weeks with a partial knee ligament tear that he suffered during Arsenal’s 2-0 loss to Chelsea on Sunday. The Germany midfielder played on through the pain to complete the 90 minutes and he reported the problem to Arsenal’s medical staff after the game. It did not seem overly serious at the time.
However, the full extent of the injury became clear on Wednesday after Özil underwent an MRI scan in Germany, where he was on international duty. The German Football Federation [DFB] tweeted the update that Özil would be out for “10-12 weeks with a partial lateral ligament tear in the left knee”. The tweet finished by saying “Get well soon!” and the manner in which the DFB broke the news has gone down badly at Arsenal.