Hector Bellerin Out for 'Some Weeks' After Injury, per Arsenal's Unai Emery

Arsenal right-back Hector Bellerin is poised for "some weeks" on the sidelines after limping off during his side's 3-2 defeat at Southampton on Sunday.

Manager Unai Emery provided an update on Bellerin and his other defenders after the loss, with the Spaniard withdrawn at half-time with an unspecified knock, per Arsenal's official website:

"We are going to wait tomorrow and Tuesday, and Wednesday we are going play, and then Saturday also.

"We need every player. Bellerin has a small injury - he is going to be some weeks off I think.

"Sokratis [Papastathopoulos] is coming back and we will see how [Shkodran] Mustafi and [Sead] Kolasinac are, and it is good news Koscielny can be with us for the next matches. It is not a good result but it was important for us [to have them back]."

Club captain Laurent Koscielny made his first Premier League appearance of the season at St. Mary's Stadium after seven months out with an Achilles injury. Centre-back Rob Holding has been ruled out for the rest of the season after rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament in the recent 2-2 draw against Manchester United.

Bellerin experienced a dip in form last season after excelling in his first two campaigns as an Arsenal regular, and Stephan Lichtsteiner was recruited in the summer to provide extra competition for his spot.

Emery will want the speedster back as soon as possible considering cover is quite short, with Lichtsteiner the only natural right-back replacement in the squad.

Bellerin will sit out Wednesday's north London derby against Tottenham Hotspur in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals. But he also now looks likely to miss upcoming fixtures against Burnley, Brighton & Hove Albion and Liverpool, all of which fall in the next fortnight before New Year's Eve.