Rob Holding has admitted he cried when hearing Arsenal teammate Hector Bellerin had torn his ACL.
Bellerin suffered the same injury just days after Holding started his own rehabilitation on his knee.
The pair returned to action on Tuesday against Nottingham Forest.
When asked if he cried when Bellerin got injured, the former England U21 international added: "I did.
"I was sat with my girlfriend and I saw the video from TV in the group chat with my friends.
"I thought 'oh no'. Because it was so raw for me it hit a spot and I got a bit emotional with it.
"I was two weeks post-op when he went down, I was sat up here watching the game and it was really emotional for me to see him go down, getting stretchered off and holding his knee.
"The long days in the gym where we've been sat on a watt bike just ticking over for 30-40 minutes, there have been some dark times. For us to both come out and put in a performance like that [against Forest] and for him to come on and get an assist straight away is a real pleasure to see. He's a great leader for the team.
"It happened so close together. For it to both be left knee, a weight-bearing knee for us. To go through the process with him made it a lot easier and I'm sure he'd say the same."
