Arsenal: What games Christos Tzolis will miss after injury timeline is 'revealed'

Arsenal forward Christos Tzolis is reportedly facing up to three weeks out with the hamstring injury suffered on international duty.

Jovanovic said: "How do I handle it? You tell me?  I'm his coach, I tell him to go out and he says 'I'm not going out'.

"How do I handle it? So, this is something that I characterise as the Greek mentality and all these kids who come to play in the national team regardless of age. I think it was a scene that everyone saw, those who were close.

"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 big the damage is 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 the corner. And then he went out. These are our players."

Forced off: Christos Tzolis was substituted in Greece’s draw against Netherlands

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The winger underwent scans in Greece on Friday afternoon for an initial assessment and an early indication of how long a spell on the sidelines will be has since been ‘revealed’.

According to reports, there are fears Tzolis will be sidelined for around 20 days. If that timeline is accurate, he can still return to action before the end of the month, but Arsenal would be short of an attacker for some important games.

The Gunners are in action six times during October, playing across three different competitions, meaning Mikel Arteta’s squad will be tested.

First up for the reigning Premier League champions after the international break is the visit of Leeds to the Emirates Stadium on October 10 before hosting Lille in the Champions League three days later and then facing Nottingham Forest away from home on October 18.

Tzolis, if ruled out for three weeks, would miss that trio of fixtures but potentially be available when Arteta’s side travel to Germany to face Bayern Munich in a massive Champions League clash on October 21.

However, as the aforementioned three-week timeline suggests Tzolis would be a major doubt to make the trip, the home game against Everton three days later might serve as a more realistic return date.