Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta has confirmed that Jurrien Timber felt “something muscular” in the first-half of Tuesday night’s 2-0 win over Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League.

Timber began at right-back for the Gunners at the Emirates Stadium for his seventh consecutive start in defence. He impressed in Arteta’s backline as goals from Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka put them ahead before the break.

However, after half-time, Timber was nowhere to be seen and he was replaced by Jakub Kiwior for the second-half. His absence didn’t impact the result as Arsenal earned their first win of the competition.

Following the win over the French giants, Arteta was quizzed on the Netherland’s situation. He said: “He was unbelievable in the first half, but he felt something muscular and he wasn’t certain.

“So I didn’t want to take any risks. He’s been out for a year and he’s played a lot of minutes, probably more minutes than we would have wanted in the past few weeks and we have to manage him.”

Tuesday night was the seventh game that Timber has started in a row. He started the 2-0 win over Wolves on the opening day of the season on the bench but has started the following five Premier League games.

Timber missed almost the entirety of last season with an ACL injury picked up on his debut for the club. He returned to Arteta’s side during pre-season and has hit the ground running at the Emirates Stadium.

Arteta will be hoping that Timber is fit for Saturday’s league fixture with Southampton. The defender was named in the provisional squad for this month’s international break, where the Netherlands will face Hungary and Germany.