You could see as soon as he went down awkwardly yesterday that it was going to be serious and, deep down, you probably knew that we wouldn't be seeing him playing for us again this season.
But that doesn't make it any easier when the news is confirmed that he's ruptured his cruciate knee ligament and will need to undergo surgery.
More bad news comes in the fact that we won't even have him fit for the start of next season and he'll miss the entire pre-season schedule as he works to get his knee up to full strength.
He'll be travelling to
There can be no underestimating how serious a blow this is to the Blues as we enter the final run in.
The team was looking as balanced as it's ever been and we've been playing some great stuff, largely due to Arteta's willingness to take the ball, and the pressure, off all those around him.
And we couldn't even break down the ten men of a piss poor
I fear that this could be an injury too far for David Moyes' squad…let's just hope we can do it without him and he's knocking about Wembley way on his crutches, a la Adrian Heath circa 1985, come May 20th!