Arsenal's Shkodran Mustafi is expected to be sidelined for some time after he had to limp out of Germany's 5-1 World Cup qualifying win over Azerbaijan on Sunday.
The 25-year-old hobbled off the pitch with assistance from Germany's coaching staff after just 36 minutes just before Azerbaijan scored their goal through Ramil Sheydaev and the coach, Joachim Löw, later confirmed he sustained a suspected muscle injury, as reported by the Guardian.
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Despite the injury to the Arsenal defender, followed by Seydaev's equaliser, Azerbaijan fell apart after the break, conceding three times in 12 minutes from Wagner, Antonio Rüdiger and Goretzka, with Emre Can adding a stunning late fifth.
Germany finished 11 points clear of Northern Ireland, whom they beat 3-1 in Belfast on Thursday to reach Russia, with a 100% record.
Mustafi is now certain to miss Arsenal's Premier League clash with Watford at the weekend. But Low has warned that Mustafi will likely be taking a 'longer break' after appearing to tear a thigh muscle.
"With Mustafi it seems that it is some muscle tear or some muscle fibre tear," Löw said. "In any case it could force him to a longer break."
It appears almost certain that Mustafi will be sidelined for an extended period ruling him out of Arsenal's remaining games in October, with five fixtures coming up in the coming weeks. Arsenal have tricky away games against Crvena Zvezda and Everton, before home matches against Norwich and Swansea, as reported by the Metro.
Any enforced absence would be a potential headache for Arsène Wenger, with Laurent Koscielny having pulled out of France's squad last week with an achilles injury and Calum Chambers yet to feature this season due to a hip problem.
Having already secured their place in Russia next year with victory over Northern Ireland, Leon Goretzka's brilliant backheel sent Germany on their way to victory at the Fritz-Walter-Stadion in Kaiserslautern on Sunday. Sandro Wagner also continued his fine form by scoring his fifth goal in five caps as Germany topped Group C.
