Arsenal loanee left distraught after latest injury
Oleksandr Zinchenko, on loan from Arsenal, was seemingly on the verge of tears when he was forced to leave Nottingham Forest’s match against FC Porto on Thursday due to injury.
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Oleksandr Zinchenko is already under his third manager at Nottingham Forest. The Arsenal loanee joined the club during Nuno Espirito Santo’s tenure, made his Forest debut under Ange Postecoglou, then played his first game under Sean Dyche on Thursday night.
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Yet his first match under Dyche’s management was far from ideal despite a 2-0 win, with the 28-year-old lasting less than 45 minutes against FC Porto.
Shortly before halftime, Zinchenko was forced off the field due to injury and was replaced by Nicolo Savona.
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The Mirror reports that Zinchenko appeared to injure his groin and appeared visibly upset as he left the field of play.
Given Zinchenko’s long injury history, any setback is likely to be a major concern for the player and his club. During his three seasons at Arsenal, the defender missed 48 games due to injury, and this isn’t even the first injury during his time at Nottingham Forest.
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After playing the first four games of his loan spell, Zinchenko missed recent matches against Midtylland and Newcastle United with a groin injury, skipping the international break for the same reason.
A setback involving the same injury would certainly be frustrating and explain Zinchenko’s dismay when he left the field.
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On a related note, Jakub Kiwior, a player on loan from Arsenal, played for FC Porto in the same match. Kiwior had gone six games for Porto without the team conceding a single goal, so it would have been a shock to the system to lose the match 2-0.
Either way, Kiwior’s appearances so far will have earned him plenty of credit in the bank, and he wasn’t responsible for any of the penalties Forest scored from.
It was inevitable that the team would end up conceding a goal or two, however well he played.