Arsene Wenger anxious About Serious Ligament Injury For Francis Coquelin

The likes of William Carvalho, Sven Bender and Christoph Kramer would all suit the role and should be in Arsenal’s sights, despite the fact their clubs will be reluctant sellers midway through the season.

Wenger is waiting to find out how long each will be absent but fears Coquelin, who left The Hawthorns on crutches, will be a lengthy absentee after hurting knee ligaments when he slid into a tackle with Claudio Yacob.

“We have lost a player of quality for a while but we know that can happen”. Coquelin has a scan today. It is of course a disappointment to lose him longer term.

Arsenal manager has officially confirmed Francis Coquelin is out for “at least” two months.

Coquelin and Arteta join fellow midfielders Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Aaron Ramsey, Tomas Rosicky and Jack Wilshere on Arsenal’s absentee list, now stretched to seven players.

Wenger was criticised during the summer for not buying defensive midfield reinforcements precisely because supporters feared that an injury to Coquelin would leave a gaping hole in midfield.

If the Frenchman had swallowed his pride and paid £24m to sign Morgan Schneiderlin, the injury to Coquelin would not have been such a problem.

“Even if we had beaten Bayern, we would be in a position where we have to beat Olympiakos, if we beat Zagreb at home. I’ll do what’s needed in January even though in Jan it is not an ideal transfer market”.

Mikel Arteta and Mathieu Flamini are both in the squad but there are doubts as to whether either player is good enough for a team with serious aspirations of winning the Premier League title.

“I must say we have been hit very hard in November”.

Asked by Omnisport to explain the club’s European struggles, the former France global said: “First, this is simple, and we have evidence, is that when you play against Zagreb, for example, you always have to attack”.

Troy Deeney looked to have rescued a point for Watford as they battled back against Manchester United, but the striker’s unfortunate own-goal allowed the Red Devils to escape Vicarage Road with all three points and leapfrog their rivals City and Arsenal in the table. However, in what was the final icing on a particularly rotten cake for the visitors, Santi Cazorla slipped as he took the resulting spot-kick, with the ball sailing high over the Baggies’ goal. But Ranieri was quick to play down the Foxes’ chances at a top-four finish in the aftermath of the 3-0 victory over Newcastle, and right he was too.