Arsenal fear that Francis Coquelin could be a lengthy injury absentee with knee ligament damage. The midfielder suffered the problem in the early stages of Saturday’s 2-1 loss at West Bromwich Albion when he made a tackle on Claudio Yacob.
The precise extent of the lay-off is unclear but the club are concerned by the initial signs and it is known that Coquelin has hurt the ligaments. He departed The Hawthorns on crutches.
Coquelin has already been ruled out of Tuesday’s must-win Champions League tie against Dinamo Zagreb at the Emirates Stadium and so has Mikel Arteta. The club captain replaced Coquelin at West Brom only to be forced off with a calf injury.
Arsène Wenger, the Arsenal manager, has battled injury problems to his squad over recent weeks and he was without Jack Wilshere, Danny Welbeck, Tomas Rosicky, Theo Walcott, Aaron Ramsey and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain at West Brom.
