Arsenal had bad news at the beginning of the 2023-24 Premier League season as their newly signed defender Jurrien Timber suffered a serious knee injury in the season-opener on August 12.

The incident happened 50 minutes into the game against Nottingham Forest at the Emirates Stadium in London. Timber was replaced by Takehiro Tomoyasu and left the field with help from team medics.

Arsenal defeated Nottingham 2-1 in the end, but Timber's injury kept the team concerned. They are waiting for the diagnosis as well as the timeframe for his recovery.

"The doctors looked at him and they were happy for him to continue, he was as well. Straight away in the first action of the second half he made a movement and it was a bit funny," Mikel Arteta, manager of Arsenal said. "We took him out straight after and now we have to assess him and see what he has."

Timber joined Arsenal in July from Ajax, which received 40 million euros in the transfer. He has played in every of the four back positions in "The Gunners'" pre-season games and impressed Arteta with his performance. The manager started him in the left-back in both the FA Community game against Manchester City and the Premier League game against Nottingham Forest, counting on him with a key role on both offense and defense.

Arsenal have several options to fill in Timber's place before he comes back. For example, Tomoyasu proved he can make similar contributions to Timber's work in the game on August 12. Both Kieran Tierney and Jakub Kiwior can play left-back as well. When Oleksandr Zinchenko returns from injury, he is also be an option.

Arsenal will visit Selhurst Park to play Crystal Palace on August 22.