Arsenal star Vermaelen out for 2 months

Arsenal defender Thomas Vermaelen had surgery on his problem achilles yesterday, and faces a further two months on the sidelines. The Belgian international had the surgery in Sweden yesterday.

Arsenal have decided that the centre back needed extra surgery for the injury that kept him out most of last season.

Vermaelen picked up the nasty injury in the Udinese win in Italy last month and now looks set to miss the next two months of the season.