Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to miss two months of action through injury

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain faces a race against time to be fit for Euro 2016 after Arsene Wenger revealed the midfielder will miss the next six to eight weeks.

The England worldwide suffered the unspecified injury after colliding with Barcelona’s Javier Mascherano during last week’s 2-0 home defeat in the Champions League.

The fact that the Premier League has never been so open has merely added to the sense of hysteria in Islington and unless Arsenal soothe those nerves with an early goal or two on Wednesday, the atmosphere could quickly turn toxic – hence Wenger’s appeal to fans on Tuesday, asking for solidarity. In the end we got, on that front, positive news.

It would be no surprise if Mertesacker took back over from Gabriel either to be honest, and looking at Coquelin’s performances lately he doesn’t seem to be in Wenger’s good books either, but would we want Flamini to be playing alongside the relatively inexperienced Elneny?

Asked about comments made by the likes of Sky Sports pundit Graeme Souness, who said Arsenal were “weak” and nearly a “joke” against United, Wenger said: “I don’t want to respond to individual criticism”.

“They stopped us a lot with little fouls and that was very frustrating, apart from that I could not question our desire or commitment at all”. That’s what we want, to fight together until the last game of the season and not give up when you have a bad game or a bad result. “That’s what fans and players and teams and clubs are about”. “I believe this club is respected all around the world, and one of the values of the club is its solidarity”.

“Swansea want to secure their position in the Premier League so we expect them to fight very hard, be very committed and well organised defensively”, he said.

And a furious Merson says if the Gunners don’t end their wait for a league title then only a shock Manchester City win should stop Arsenal saying goodbye to their long-serving boss.

He has just one goal in eight games since returning from a hamstring injury, but Wenger backed the forward to rediscover his scoring touch soon. “They lost confidence with a bad start and after that, in the Premier League, it’s hard”.