Leno injury a disaster in Arsenal's European hunt

It was a fairly innocuous challenge, but one Neal Maupay did not need to make as Bernd Leno sustained a possibly-season ending injury in Arsenal's eventual 2-1 loss at Brighton on Saturday. Leno made sure of his feelings for the French striker as he was stretchered off the pitch, though Maupay would ultimately have the last laugh, netting an injury-time winner to compound the Gunners to their second loss since Premier League football resumed. 

"It doesn’t look good, but we don’t know anything yet," Gunners boss Mikel Arteta said in the aftermath of the defeat and it's fairly clear that any spell on the sidelines for Leno will be a blow for Arsenal. 

Indeed, a WhoScored rating of 6.88 is better than any other Premier League goalkeeper this season, while at the time of writing, only Martin Dubravka (116) has made more saves than Leno (112) in England's top tier. Arguably Arsenal's player of the season so far among his peers and supporters, the 28-year-old has been a pillar of consistency between the sticks for the north London side. 

Given the lackadaisical defending from those in front of him time and time again, Leno has been one of the Premier League's busier goalkeepers. Indeed, Arsenal concede an average of 14.8 shots per game, the fifth highest in the league, and a main reason they still have an, admittedly outside, chance of a Champions League finish has been Leno. 

Seven clean sheets for a leaky Arsenal outfit is a commendable return for the German, particularly given the shots conceded return, and his solid showings has yielded a save success rate of 70.6% and while that in itself is not the best in the Premier League, it's still a noteworthy achievement for Leno. 

So if he is to miss the next eight league matches of the campaign as is expected, then Arsenal's chances of returning to Europe's elite club competition all but go up in smoke. The Gunners were given a difficult hand with the post-lockdown fixture list. The re-arranged clash at Manchester City on Wednesday night was followed up with a trip to Brighton and granted Arsenal just three days' rest between the two matches, whereas Aston Villa and Sheffield United, who both played in midweek, were granted four days' additional rest and City now don't play until Monday. 

That would explain the sweeping changes to the Arsenal team between the two matches, but Leno was again named in the starting XI as is to be expected, with the shotstopper one of the first names on the team sheet. He had featured in every minute for Arsenal prior to Saturday's defeat at the AMEX Stadium and his continued selection was a confidence boost for his teammates. 

After an indifferent start to life in England, Leno upped the ante this season and maintained his consistency in goal despite managerial upheavel, which is a testament to his mental fortitude in the face of adversity. Clearly able to play the ball out from the back to help build attacks from defence, Leno's pass success rate return of 72.3% is the sixth best of goalkeepers to have made 10 or more Premier League appearances this season. 

It's a shame that those in front of him continuously let him down, not just in defence but in midfield too. A soft underbelly has been Arsenal's undoing on more than one occasion in recent years, which is why the club are in the market for another midfielder and centre-back in the summer transfer window. A return of nine interceptions per game is the lowest in the Premier League, which meant the Gunners were unable to deny opponents from forging goalscoring opportunities, and that in turn increased pressure on Leno's goal. 

Arsenal have developed a statistically calculated WhoScored weakness of 'Stopping opponents from creating chances' and while Leno was able to handle the intensity to the best of his ability, winning plaudits in the process, it remains to be seen whether Emiliano Martinez can handle the pressure over the coming gameweeks. The goalkeeper insists he is up to the challenge, but he has big boots - or gloves - to fill in order to at least match Leno's performance levels. 

The hope now is that the injury isn't as serious as initially feared, but it's highly unlikely that Leno will play against for the Gunners this season, which impacts their push for Europe. The first game back post-lockdown saw Granit Xhaka and Pablo Mari pull up with injuries, a game that also may have marked David Luiz's final appearance in an Arsenal shirt, yet it's Leno's absence that will be the hardest felt at the Emirates.