Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta is hopeful Granit Xhaka will avoid surgery after suffering a knee injury in the 3-1 win over Tottenham last weekend.
The Switzerland midfielder has been ruled out for up to three months after colliding with Lucas Moura at the Emirates, but the Arsenal boss has hailed Xhaka's mentality and has no doubt he will be back firing soon.
Arteta said: "It's a significant injury but he probably escaped an even worse injury that he could have had.
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"His mentality is top - he knows what he needs to do now. Hopefully he can escape surgery, which is really important.
"After that it's about preparing himself in the best possible way because time flies."
Arsenal face Brighton at the Amex on Saturday evening, live on Sky Sports - but after the elation of victory in the north London derby, Arteta insists his squad must move their attention to what lies ahead.
Graham Potter's side sit in sixth, four points above the Gunners, having lost just one of their opening six league games so far.
"Obviously it's a special match to win in front of your fans - and we did it in a convincing way to get the result that we wanted," Arteta added.
"Enjoy it for a little while, but now put that game aside and all of our focus should now be on Brighton.
"We experienced a beautiful day with our people and we want another one after Brighton.
"The best way to do that is to just focus on that game because there were things that we should improve as well from the Spurs game."
The Arsenal boss has previously said that suffering was needed at the club in order to "build something incredible" - and following the emphatic win over Tottenham, Arteta is positive that the plan for success at the Emirates is in place but understands more results like Sunday's will be needed to solidify that vision.
When asked about the future of the club, Arteta said: "The plan is in place but what really matters for the plan to evolve and develop is the present.
"We have to focus on what we're meant to do in the present because the rest has already been designed, planned and thought about.
"But what is going to allow us to do that is the present, so we have to focus on that."